Ohio History Journal

THE DEDICATION OF THE HAYES MEMORIAL

AT SPIEGEL GROVE, FREMONT, OHIO,

TUESDAY, MAY 30, 1916.

 

Memorials of our greatest statesmen have taken many forms

and had their rise through various agencies. Mount Vernon, the

home of Washington, was rescued from oblivion by a private

association whose rules and fees still control its view by the public.

Lincoln's modest home in Springfield, Ill., and "The Hermitage,"

the home of Jackson in Nashville, Tenn., are now in charge of

local societies. The Grant, Garfield and McKinley memorials

were made possible only through continuous and urgent appeals

to a generous public. The Hayes Memorial is unique in that the

beautiful home and grove, together with the valuable library and

collections have been given to the State, for the absolutely free

use of the public, the only condition being that a fireproof build-

ing be erected in the Grove to house the treasures.

Spiegel Grove, the much-loved home of Rutherford Birchard

Hayes, a beautiful twenty-five acre grove of native forest trees

was, some years ago, presented to the State of Ohio, for the use

of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, by Colo-

nel Webb C. Hayes, together with the library and collections of

his father, as a memorial to his parents. In the language of the

circular of the Archeological and Historical Society, issued in

1898, five years after the death of its former president, "this

offer of the family is unusual for its liberality and most worthy

of commendation for the filial desire it expresses to perpetuate

the memorial to loved and honored parents."

The years of planning and erecting this building were cheered

and interwoven by filial remembrance, a vision and a sure faith

in the present accomplishment. Every memorial should in some

way be the accumulation and interpretation of the facts, beliefs,

character and deeds which made up the life of the person com-

memorated. The Hayes Memorial possesses in marked degree

this beauty of association as well as an absolute beauty. Round

the memory of the President and Mrs. Hayes, as flesh and blood

Vol. XXV- 26            (401)

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402      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. round the bone, are gathered whatever devoted family and friends could bring to illuminate the past, not only of their private lives and poignant personalities, but of the century of years, rich in

history, running back from present days. The following invitation announced the formal opening of the Hayes Me- morial Building to the public, special invitations being sent to former State Senator T. A. Dean of Fremont, and former Governor Judson Harmon, who were so active in securing the provision for the erection of the fire- proof building required under the terms of the gift; and to President Wilson, Secretary of State Lansing, Secretary of War Baker, and Sena-

tors Pomerene and Harding:     The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society requests the pleasure of your presence at the dedication of The Hayes Memorial Library and Museum erected in The Spiegel Grove State Park, Fremont. in honor of Rutherford Birchard Hayes Nineteenth President of the United States on Tuesday afternoon May thirtieth, Nineteen hundred and sixteen Spiegel Grove. Fremont, Ohio     Memorial Day, Tuesday, May 30th, 1916, began with all the fresh charm of a May morning. Fremont, the scene of so many historic celebrations in the past, was in gala attire. The Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society had at the annual meeting designated the day for the dedication of the Hayes Memorial

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        403

 

Building, and the committee on Spiegel Grove had made careful

plans therefor. The members of the Society were cheered by the

interest displayed by the citizens of Fremont. As the result of a

communication from his Honor, Mayor Kinney, to the City Coun-

cil, the latter body appointed a committee consisting of Council-

men Schwartz and Zimmerman to act with the Mayor as chair-

man, which committee attended the meeting of the Fremont

Chamber of Commerce which organization appointed a com-

mittee consisting of E. C. Cast, W. H. Schwartz and R. E. Ervin.

The Mayor also appointed a Citizens' committee of bankers and

editors, of which John M. Sherman was chairman, in the follow-

ing communication:

FREMONT, OHIO, May 25, 1916.

HON. JOHN M. SHERMAN,

Fremont, Ohio.

 

DEAR SIR:

Fremont is to be honored on next Tuesday by many notable

guests and we, as a city, should not be unmindful of their

presence.

With this in view, and as an appreciation of the State's recog-

nition of Fremont and her distinguished dead; also recognizing

the munificence of Colonel Webb C. Hayes, who made possible

the perpetual memorial and park, as a reminder to the coming

generations, I feel it but fitting and proper that as the executive

head of Fremont I should appoint a special committee to represent

the city.

This committee to co-operate with the Ohio Archaeological

and Historical society, the Chamber of Commerce and other or-

ganizations having part in the dedicatory ceremonies.

The Chamber of Commerce has arranged for an excep-

tionally capable committee of business men and it is my desire

that the banking and newspaper interests, on account of their con-

nections and wide acquaintance, be recognized and represented.

It is, therefore, with very great pleasure that I ask you to serve

on this special reception and arrangement committee.

Very truly yours,

GEO. KINNEY,

Mayor.

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404      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

The local committees appointed by the City Council, the Fre-

mont Chamber of Commerce and the Mayor, assisted the Archaeo-

logical Society and its local committee of life members-Basil

Meek, I. T. Fangboner and Miss Lucy E. Keeler-in carrying

out the comprehensive program which included not only an ampli-

fied Decoration Day program but also the dedication of memorial

windows which had been placed by Colonel Hayes in memory of

his father's connection with the Eugene Rawson Post, of the

Grand Army, and of Croghan Lodge of Odd Fellows, which he

had joined in 1849 when Fremont was known as Lower San-

dusky. These parts of the program were in addition to the reg-

ular dedicatory exercises of the Memorial Building by the Ar-

chaeological Society.

Colonel Hayes, acting for the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society, extended a personal invitation through

Superintendent Timmons and the Rev. Fathers O'Hare and

Reiken to the school children of the public and parochial

schools, to make an inspection of the Memorial Building in

the early morning, while en route to decorate the graves of the

soldier dead in the cemeteries. An invitation was extended also

to the members of Croghan Lodge, I. O. O. F., to dedicate a

memorial window to the lodge; and the following letters were

sent to the commander of Eugene Rawson Post and the 23rd

Regiment Association.

 

"SPIEGEL GROVE, FREMONT, OHIO, May 23, 1916.

Comrade JAMES A. GILLMOR,

Commander Eugene Rawson Post, G. A. R.

DEAR SIR:

The trustees of the Ohio Archeological Society have received

from Col. Webb C. Hayes in commemoration of his father's

connection with Eugene Rawson Post, G. A. R., an illuminated

Memorial window of the Grand Army badge in colors with the

date, 11 May, 1881, on which he joined Eugene Rawson Post,

G. A. R.

The trustees after conference with you and others have re-

served the period from 11 :00 a. m. to 12 :00 a. m., for the exclu-

sive use of the members of Eugene Rawson Post, G. A. R., and

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        405

 

all soldiers of the War for the Union for an inspection of the

Memorial Building and such exercises in connection with a dedi-

cation of Eugene Rawson Post Memorial window or such other

exercises incident to Memorial Day as the Eugene Rawson Post

may desire, including the use of the speakers' stand erected for

the regular Dedicatory Exercises of the Hayes Memorial Library

and Museum by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

While it was the desire of the donor to give the members

of Eugene Rawson Post and the surviving soldiers of the War

for the Union the first opportunity to visit the Memorial Build-

ing after its completion and before its formal dedication by the

Society, it was found that this could not be done at an earlier

hour on Decoration Day without interfering with the hallowed

custom of strewing flowers over the graves of the honored dead,

and that the hour mentioned, 11:00 a. m. to 12:00 a.m., could be

utilized after the ceremonies in the cemeteries and was the only

hour available prior to the formal exercises which would occupy

the entire time after 1:30 p.m.

The surviving members of General Hayes' old Regiment, the

23rd Ohio, have been invited to be present during this hour for

an inspection of the building and later information from Gov-

ernor Willis indicated his presence with them at the Memorial

Building also in the morning prior to his departure for Elyria

to attend a G. A. R. meeting early in the afternoon.

Very respectfully,

The Ohio State Archaeological & Historical Society,

By E. P. FRENCH, Asst. Curator and Librarian.

 

SPIEGEL GROVE, FREMONT, OHIO, May 8, 1916.

BENJAMIN KILLAN,

Secretary 23rd Regiment Assn.,

Mansfield, Ohio.

DEAR LIEUT. KILLAN:

The Hayes Memorial Library and Museum will be dedicated

on Tuesday, May ₃₀th, at 1:30 p.m, by the Ohio State Archaeo-

logical and Historical Society, of which it is a branch.

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406      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

The President, Secretary of War, and United States Sena-

tors from Ohio have been especially invited, in addition to which

the Society has issued a number of invitations to citizens of

Ohio.

It is not definitely known whether the President can come,

but the exercises will be conducted by Prof. G. Frederick Wright,

of Oberlin, President of The Ohio State Archaeological and His-

torical Society.

In the Museum, we have gathered together many, nearly all,

of my father's war relics which were so intimately associated

with the Twenty-third Regiment, and the presence of the mem-

bers of the regiment would be especially appreciated by Mrs.

Hayes and myself, and in fact by all of my father's family.

The morning New York Central train leaves Cleveland rather

early, but the comrades can catch a returning train at 3:32 p. m.

and 5:55 p. m.

If the President comes, there will, of course, be a very large

gathering, in which case, we must ask the indulgence of the

members of the Regiment, and request that they make themselves

known, as we desire to have them take luncheon with us as soon

as it can be arranged.

As you are probably aware, ever since my father's death,

I have had forwarded a wreath for the Twenty-third monument,

direct to the Superintendent of Woodlawn Cemetery, Cleveland,

Ohio, for want of a better address. I presume it has been re-

ceived regularly, although I have had no direct advices.

In this connection, I wish to express again the sincere thanks

of the members of my father's family for the wreaths which have

been sent to place over the graves of my parents.

The family monument, a new granite base which contains

the caskets, has been erected on a knoll in Spiegel Grove, and this

would undoubtedly be another object of interest to the surviving

members of the grand old regiment.

With sincere regards, I am,

Very truly yours,

WEBB C. HAYES.

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.              407

 

DEDICATION OF THE HAYES MEMORIAL.

 

MORNING PROGRAM.

8:00 A. M. The Memorial Building will be thrown open at 8 o'clock

A. M., for the exclusive use of the school children and

teachers of the Public Schools, headed by the Light Guard

Band, and of St. Ann's and St. Joseph's Parochial Schools,

headed by the Woodman Band, on their way to the ceme-

teries to decorate the graves of the soldiers. Firing squad

and a special committee from the G. A. R. will be con-

veyed by autos to Spiegel Grove State Park, St. Joseph

and Calvary and Oakwood cemeteries. Members of the

G. A. R. and Woman's Relief Corps to Oakwood by

Trolley Car, returning to Spiegel Grove by autos.

9:30 A. M   Croghan Lodge and the Uniform Rank and other members

of the I. O. O. F. will leave their headquarters, Front and

State streets, headed by Woodman Band and march to

Spiegel Grove.

10:00 A. M. Music by Light Guard Band.

Meeting called to order by John M. Sherman. Esq., and

presentation of his Excellency, the Honorable Frank B.

Willis, Governor of Ohio.

Exercises Eugene Rawson Post, G. A. R.

Assembly called to order by Comrade Jas. A. Gillmor,

Commander of Eugene Rawson Post, G. A. R.

Address by the Rev. A. C. Shuman, of Tiffin.

Dedication of Eugene Rawson Post Memorial Window in

the Hayes Memorial.

11:00 A. M. Exercises Croghan Lodge I. 0. O. F.

Assembly called to order by G. L. Roach, Noble Grand.

Prayer by W. D. Pearce, Vice Grand.

Address by Meade G. Thraves, Esq., Historian Croghan

Lodge.

Address by Ivor Hughes, Esq., Past Grand Master.

Benediction by J. E. Courtney, Chaplain.

 

 

AFTERNOON PROGRAM, 2 P. M.

Meeting called to order by Prof. G. Frederick Wright, President

of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society.

Invocation by the Rev. J. C. Roberts, pastor of the First Methodist

Church of Fremont.

Song by the Col. George Croghan Chapter, Daughters of American

Revolution and the Fremont Church Choirs, led by Prof. Alfred Arthur,

Leader 23rd Ohio Regiment Band, accompanied by the Woodman Band.

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408        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Welcome by His Honor, George Kinney, Mayor of Fremont.

Address by Charles Richard Williams, of Princeton, N. J.,

biographer of Rutherford B. Hayes.

Song by the Col. George Croghan Chapter, Daughters of the

American Revolution and Fremont Church Choirs, led by Prof. Alfred

Arthur, Leader 23rd Ohio Regiment Band, accompanied by the Woodman

Band.

Remarks by the Honorable Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War,

representing the President of the United States.

* Remarks by the Honorable Frank B. Willis, Governor of Ohio.

Remarks by United States Senator, Atlee Pomerene.

+ Remarks by United States Senator, Warren G. Harding.

Remarks by the Honorable Arthur W. Overmyer, Congressman

from the 13th Ohio District.

Lieutenant General S. B. M. Young, U. S. A., commander-in-chief

of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, of which Rutherford B.

Hayes was commander-in-chief at the time of his death, represented by

Captain Alexis Cope.

Remarks-Hon. James E. Campbell, former Governor of Ohio,

Trustee Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society.

Remarks by Capt. Elias R. Monfort, commander-in-chief of the

Grand Army of the Republic, represented by Past Department Com-

mander, Gen. J. Kent Hamilton.

23rd Ohio Regiment Association of which Rutherford B. Hayes

was President from  its organization after the Antietam  Campaign in

1862 until his death, represented by Captain John S. Ellen, President.

Eugene Rawson Post, G. A. R., of which Rutherford B. Hayes

became a member May 11, 1881, represented by James A. Gillmor,

Commander.

Sandusky County Bar Association of which Rutherford B. Hayes

became a member in 1845, at Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, represented

by Basil Meek, Esq., President.

Croghan Lodge, I. O. O. F., of which Rutherford B. Hayes became

a member 17th of September, 1849, at Lower Sandusky, now Fremont,

Ohio, represented by Meade G. Thraves, Esq.

Birchard Library Association, of which Rutherford B. Hayes was

President from its organization in 1873 until his death, represented by

Charles Thompson, President.

Sandusky County Pioneer and Historical Society, of which

 

* In the morning program.

+A telegram of appreciation and regrets at unavoidable absence.

read by former Lieutenant-Governor F. W. Treadway, Trustee O. S .A.

and H. S.

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.             409   Rutherford B. Hayes became a member at its organization, 6th of June, 1874, represented by I. H. Burgoon, President. Benediction by Rev. E. M. O'Hare, rector of St. Ann's Catholic Church.

At the Hayes residence, the hosts, Colonel and Mrs. Webb C. Hayes assisted by Mr. and Mrs. Birchard A. Hayes of Toledo, Mr. and Mrs. Scott R. Hayes of New York, Mrs. Fanny Hayes Smith of Washington, and a nephew, William P. Hayes of Ashe- ville, N. C., received their distinguished guests. First in the day came the children from the public and parochial schools, some two thousand strong, marching in order and each carrying a flag, a moving and inspiring sight. Not far from the residence, on the beautiful knoll to the south, stands the monument in the base of which repose the re- mains of the President and Mrs. Hayes, and this spot was one of the points of pilgrimage throughout the day. After the death of his wife, in 1889, President Hayes devoted much thought to the design and construction of a simple monument which was con- structed of Dummerston (Vermont) granite, from the quarries

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410      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. now located on the ancestral farm to which his parents, Ruther- ford Hayes of Brattleboro and Sophia Birchard of Fayetteville, moved upon their marriage in 1812 and occupied until their mi- gration to Delaware, Ohio, in 1817 where they lived ever after- ward and where the future president was born, Oct. 4, 1822. The monument was erected in Oakwood Cemetery, but in April, 1915, the bodies of the President and Mrs. Hayes and the monu-

Monument designed and erected by Rutherford B. Hayes, after the death of Lucy Webb Hayes in 1889, of Vermont Granite from the farm from which his parents migrated from West Dummerston, Vermont, to Delaware, Ohio, in 1817. The caskets were placed in a granite block 12x20 feet, which was then sealed and the monument brought from Oakwood Cemetery and placed on this new granite base on The Knoll in the Spiegel Grove State Park in April, 1915.

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.       411

 

ment were transferred to Spiegel Grove. Beautiful evergreen

trees and shrubs screen the knoll which is further enclosed with

a tall iron fence. The gate was opened on Memorial day, and the

Fremont school children strewed a profusion of beautiful flowers

upon the base of the monument. Following an annual custom, a

beautiful wreath of white lilies was placed there by representa-

tives of the 23rd O. V. I., General Hayes' old regiment. Flags

intermingled their colors with the floral tributes.

Governor Willis arrived at Spiegel Grove at 10:30 o'clock

and was greeted with cheers and applause, and a crowd imbued

with patriotic and civic enthusiasm. The G. A. R. having com-

pleted their exercises at the cemeteries took their places on the

stand erected on the lawn in front of the residence, and to mark

their entrance the band played the Star Spangled Banner.

John M. Sherman, in well-chosen remarks introduced Gov-

ernor Willis:

Ladies and Gentlemen, and Children of the Fremont Schools:

This is Memorial Day; a day which has long since become

a part of our national life, a day on which we not only decorate

the graves of our noble and patriotic dead, but consecrate our

lives anew, to the service of our country and to the service of our

fellow men.

This year the day has an added interest for all of us. We

stand within the shadow of a Memorial, made possible by the

generous gifts of the state and of a loyal son, which is to be

dedicated today to the memory of a man, who was one of God's

noblemen; loved by all the people of this city, honored by the state

and elevated to the highest position of honor and power in the

gift of the nation.

A man whose private life was so pure, whose army life was

so patriotic and whose political life was so clean and conscien-

tious, that his star gains added lustre as the years go by.

Three times the people of Ohio elected General Hayes their

governor, and at the dedication of this Memorial it seems fitting

and proper that the chief executive of this state should be the first

one to speak.

I therefore have the honor of presenting to you, the Hon-

orable Frank B. Willis, governor of Ohio, who will address you.

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412      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.     GOVERNOR WILLIS' ADDRESS. Governor Willis spoke as follows: Ladies and Gentlemen: It is indeed a rare privilege to be present and take a part in these interesting exercises on a day set apart in honor of our

patriotic dead; to be invited to join in this commemoration of one whose private life was an inspiration and whose public service was a benedic- tion. On this historic ground you have today united in this splendid celebra- tion which has its impressive lesson for all of the multitude here assem- bled. I rejoice to see in the van of these ceremonies those who valiantly marched forth to battle for liberty and union and the perpetuation of our Republic, the boys in blue of '61 to '65 who followed the flag through the

stress of war and gave the nation under God a new birth of freedom. I have the sanction of history when I speak of them as the boys in blue. These gray veterans who survive, the most inspir- ing faces and forms in all this vast assembly, were the boys of fifty-five years ago, the blush of youth on their cheeks, the light of hope and valor in their eyes and in their hearts the patriotic devotion to country that carried them down to the sunny South- land to preserve the Union "one and indivisible." We forget sometimes that, of the 2,778,304 enlistments in the armies of the United States for service in the Civil War, 1,151,438 had not reached the age of nineteen years, and 2,159,798 were not yet twenty-three years old. Only 62,533 of all that vast enlistment were more than twenty-six years of age. I, therefore, speak advisedly of those who wore the blue as "boys."  Their example will stimulate succeeding generations of American youth to respond to their country's call and follow the flag in support

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        413

of a cause that, like the judgment of the Lord, is true and right-

eous altogether.

A young Greek, musing on the battle plain of Marathon two

thousand years ago, exclaimed, "The trophies of Miltiades will

not let me sleep." Julius Caesar, in the presence of a monument

to Alexander the Great, who at the age of thirty-two had con-

quered the world, was inspired to carry the arms of the Roman

legions to the confines of ancient Gaul. The examples of the pa-

triot Tell and Arnold Winkelried "made way for liberty" to other

times and distant lands.

The deeds of these veterans and their comrades who have

passed to eternity will live in the hearts they leave behind to

remotest posterity, and raise about the citadel of our liberties a

rampart that shall not yield to war and wasting time. It is well

for the veteran defenders of the Union to assemble here today

and all over this broad land, that prattling childhood may treasure

them and their deeds in memory and that we all may reflect with

gratitude upon their contribution to the perpetuity and prestige

and glory of our Republic.

With each returning year the ranks of the grand army grow

thinner. The step of the veteran is less elastic, the form more

bent, and the temples are whitened with the snows of winter.

 

"Every year they're marching slower;

Every year they're stooping lower;

Every year the lilting music stirs the hearts of older men.

Every year the flags above them

Seem to bend and bless and love them,

As if grieving for the future when they'll never march again."

 

In years they are now old men, but in spirit and devoted

patriotism they are as young as when in the early sixties they

bade good-bye to parents and sweetheart and wife and child and

marched away "to the grand, wild music of war."

I need not urge the youth of this generation to emulate the

patriotic example and the heroic service of the old guard, who

approach life's sunset under the flag they saved and amid the

plaudits of their grateful countrymen. Their monument is the

more perfect union crowned with liberty universal. They made

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414      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

good the declaration of independence and struck the shackles

from the slave; they invested with a new meaning our starry

emblem. As we see its folds unrolled upon the fragrance laden

air of this sacred day, we shall do well to take to heart the les-

sons that it teaches. The blue speaks of truth and the loyalty of

our citizenship; the white of purity and the devotion of our

patriotic women; the red of valor, the crimson flow of the pa-

triot's blood poured out as a libation upon the altar of his

country,-valor and purity side by side, moving on to a national

destiny as high as heaven and fadeless as the stars.

While this is to the young a day of inspiration, it is also to

many of us a day of retrospection and sacred memories. Some

are thinking of mothers, who with breaking hearts cheered hus-

bands as they marched away and then went bravely and reso-

lutely to work to care for the children left in the home. Of

such an one well has the poet said:

"The wife who girds her husband's sword,

'Mid little ones who weep and wonder,

And bravely speaks the cheering word,-

What though her heart be rent asunder;

Doomed nightly in her dreams to hear

The bolts of war around her rattle-

Has shed as sacred blood as e'er

Was poured upon the field of battle!"

 

I have in mind a little log cabin on the Olentangy, in Dela-

ware county. When the father of the family was with the boys

in blue down on the tented field, the mother worked to support

the children and pay the interest on a mortgage, while she listened

with forebodings, but a brave heart, to the news that was echoed

back from the battlefield. She kept the fires burning on the

hearth of home and welcomed back with joy the war-worn soldier

when the Union legions melted into the ranks of peace.

But today our thoughts center here in this beautiful grove,

whose fame is nation wide, and in the home that is for all time

enshrined in the affectionate regard of the people of Ohio.

The county of Sandusky occupies a conspicuous place in our

history. For more than a century the story of the heroic defense

of Fort Stephenson by Major Croghan against the British has

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.         415

 

thrilled the youth of America. From pioneer days the sons of this

region have gone forth to win enduring fame in the service of

their country. Their ashes hallow the earth above which we have

raised monuments to commemorate their valor and patriotism.

Not far away, in a church-yard at Clyde, sleeps gallant General

McPherson, who fell in the battle of Atlanta, while close by is

the grave of George Burton Meek, the first native-born Amer-

ican who fell in the Spanish-American War. In the beautiful

cemetery of this city rests all that was mortal of Rutherford B.

Hayes, general in the Civil War, thrice governor of Ohio, and

before the conclusion of his last term elected president of the

United States. From the White House he returned to Spiegel

Grove, where he lived the life of the modest model American

citizen in the ideal American home.

I shall not enter upon any extended sketch of the life and

services of this eminent Ohioan. That has been reserved for the

biographer and historian. It may not be out of place, however,

to speak of his fidelity to civic duty and every public trust. These

virtues, indeed, are in large measure within the attainment of all.

They are not rare, but they are of such transcendent importance

and worth that their conspicuous exemplification in one who has

risen to the highest place within the gift of the people is more

beneficent than the achievements of genius in lifting the multi-

tude to higher planes of life and service.

Others surpassed Hayes at the bar, though he was an able

lawyer. Others ranked higher in the army, but there was no

better soldier than he, and his wounds attested his courage and

gallantry. In Congress and on the hustings we have heard more

gifted orators, yet he always spoke effectively and frequently

swayed the judgment of his hearers when others by rhetorical

flights pleased only the fancy. Others made larger claims to

constructive statesmanship and administrative reform, but his

state papers are of a high order; he took advanced ground on the

isthmian question that has assumed new importance since the

opening of the Panama Canal; he was an early and earnest ad-

vocate of civil service reform and in his inaugural address gave

courageous utterance to a truth that gathers new force with

every passing year:

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416      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        417

 

"He serves his party best who serves his country best."

No party leader ever uttered a nobler sentiment. It is an

ideal for all who are charged with the administration of state

affairs. It deserves a place with the laconics of the antique

world.

He was sincerely interested in every enterprise with which

he was officially associated. An appointment to a position on a

committee or a board, however humble, was never to him an

empty honor. He was always remarkably regular in attendance at

meetings and freely gave his time and thought to the transaction

of the business in hand. After he had been president of the

United States he was an active member on the boards of trustees

of a number of colleges and for years president of the National

Prison Association. He served Ohio as president of the State

Archaeological and Historical Society and by appointment of the

governor as trustee of the Ohio State University. He was deeply

interested in manual training and his last public address was on

this subject. He was a pioneer in the movement that has broad-

ened out into the vocational education of today which is finding its

way into the schools all over our land. Assuredly he has given

us and the world a noble and inspiring example of the unselfish

and uplifting service that even an ex-president of the Republic

may perform when he returns to the ranks of his fellow citizens.

His home life is a theme upon which we are tempted to

dwell, but that is not necessary. It is known to the world. Who

has not heard of the partner of all his joys and triumphs, the good

and gracious Lucy Webb Hayes, whether in or out of the White

House, the first lady of the land? No words of mine can ade-

quately portray her noble character or express the esteem and

love that hallow her memory. From the hospitals of the battle-

field to the cozy room yonder where the grim messenger found

her plying the needle in a work of love, she was the friend and

comforter of all who knew her.

It is fitting that this home, hallowed by two such spirits,

should be preserved and cherished by the state that they loved

so well, and that this memorial building, which we dedicate today,

should be the permanent repository of the literature of Ohio and

the middle west which General Hayes collected with discriminat-

Vol. XXV -27

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418      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

ing care and which his children in a liberal and patriotic spirit

have transferred to the keeping of our commonwealth.

May the gratitude of our entire citizenship continually bless

this consecrated spot. May they in larger numbers turn their

thoughts and steps hither as the years pass by. With the annual

return of this day may they bear to this leafy grove their gar-

lands of flowers, fair emblems of faith and hope, mementoes of

sympathy and love, "sweet prophecies of the resurrection."

Comrade James A. Gillmor, Commander of Eugene Rawson

Post, then introduced the Rev. A. C. Shuman of Tiffin, who

spoke as follows:

We can scarcely realize that fifty-five years ago this country

was on the verge of ruin, with two governments, each represent-

ing different political and economic ideals, the north with its

wonderful industrial wealth and the south with its agricultural

empire. But we can recognize the awful crisis that confronted

the citizens. We were divided and no one could perceive what

the outcome would be.

The people were not so well acquainted, they misunderstood

each other and were prejudiced by literature, exaggerating condi-

tions and by politicians, who spread their doctrines of sectionalism

for gain. And then came the awful shock of battle, when thou-

sands and thousands were called to face death through the long

years of carnage that followed.

There were 2,265 actual engagements. Time and again

these men we honor today were called upon to dare death through

an average of eleven battles a week. It is almost beyond compre-

hension that there were 2,277,374 men called upon to fight for

the unity of the nation, of which Ohio's quota was 313,318.

That the undying loyalty of these men could never be

doubted is proved by the fact that so many dead were left on the

field of battle, a ratio of one in nine through four long years,

during which those heroes underwent vicissitudes almost beyond

endurance, while 700 of their comrades were falling every day.

Then came Gettysburg when the backbone of the Confederacy

was broken.

Lee's last stand at Appomatox and the consequent negotia-

tions for peace furnish one of the most memorable events in the

• 18
 

Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        419

history of the nation. Facing each other were Grant's veteran

armies of the north and Lee with the flower of the south. When

after the great Confederate general had rejected the northern

leader's peace terms Grant said 'I'll wait another day' history

was written. The destiny of the nation rested in the hands of

these two men.

Then Grant renewed his offer the next day and General Lee

accepted, bringing to a close the long weary years of conflict.

The greatest civil war in the history of the world was ended and

the men who wore the gray became once more citizens of a united

nation.

We are here today to keep green the memory of those men

who gave their life blood for the preservation of the republic and

their comrades who have since gone to join them in eternal rest.

With malice toward none and charity for all we shall go on un-

folding the glorious destiny of the land of Washington, Lincoln

and Rutherford B. Hayes, and implanting in the breasts of our

sons and daughters the spirit which led those valiant soldiers to

undergo untold hardships for the sake of their country's unity.

By inspiring these high sentiments in our youths, through such

services as we are observing here today we guarantee the stability

and permanence of the nation because we are creating strength

of character which will preserve for ever our nation's greatness.

Led by Commander Gillmor and Post Adjutant B. F. Evans,

Eugene Rawson Post marched to the Hayes Memorial Building

and there dedicated the Eugene Rawson Post window.

 

 

PROCEEDINGS OF I. O. O. F.

Promptly at 10:15 the Toledo and Fremont Cantons, I. O. O.

F., and subordinate lodge members and Rebekahs formed in line

on Front Street.

Headed by the Woodman band, escorted by the Maccabees'

Rifle company, followed by the Patriarchs Militant, uniformed

rank of the Odd Fellows, and the banner bearers of Croghan and

McPherson local lodges, the subordinate lodges and Rebekah

lodges, they proceeded from the corner of Front and State, up

State to Park Avenue, on Park to Croghan, Croghan to Wood,

Wood to Garrison, Garrison to Wayne, Wayne to Birchard, out

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420      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Birchard to Buckland, Buckland to Hayes, thence to Spiegel

Grove where the following program and exercises were carried

out by the Odd Fellows in dedication of their memorial window

in the Hayes Memorial Library and Museum.

The Noble Grand, G. L. Roach, as chairman, opened the

exercises with prayer by W. D. Pearce, Vice Grand of the lodge,

and he not being present the prayer was read by J. E. Courtney,

Chaplain of the lodge, which is as follows:

Almighty God, we thank Thee that we can come into Thy

presence and call Thee Father and realize the common brother-

hood of men.

We come as representatives of a great order to enter which

every man must acknowledge belief in Thee and we wish to here

publicly acknowledge before the world that the great lessons of

our order are all taken from Thy word.

We as an order are seeking to exemplify in our lives the

teachings of Thy word as to Friendship, Love and Truth.

We thank Thee for the undying influence of a great and true

man such as the famous Odd Fellow, whom we honor today.

We have come to dedicate a window in this Memorial Build-

ing to his memory and we pray that this Memorial, though it be

silent, yet may it speak to generations yet to come of the lessons

of Friendship, Love and Truth, which were exemplified in the

life of our departed brother, Rutherford B. Hayes. And may

our characters taking inspiration from such a life be true to the

principles of our beloved order which are based on Thy word.

This we ask in the name of Thy Son. Amen.

The chairman then introduced M. G. Thraves, Past Grand

of Fremont, who was a personal friend of Rutherford B.

Hayes and was Secretary of the lodge at the time that Gen.

Hayes passed through all the highest offices of the lodge and be-

came a Past Grand. In speaking of Brother Rutherford B.

Hayes, Mr. Thraves eloquently said in part:

 

 

MR. THRAVES' ADDRESS.

Sisters and Brothers of the Odd Fellows and Fellow Citizens:

In behalf of the Odd Fellows of our lodge, the brothers of

the order in Sandusky county, throughout the state, nation and

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        421

 

world, I wish to take this opportunity to show our appreciation

and express our admiration, love and esteem on this rare occasion

for our deceased brother, Rutherford B. Hayes.

This fine Memorial Building, containing Brother Hayes'

library, relics and curios, is a monument to the intelligence, pa-

triotism and the high appreciation of every citizen within the great

state of Ohio.

I know that I am expressing the sentiment of every Odd

Fellow within the sound of my voice, and every member of our

order in the state, when I say that the 2,500,000 Odd Fellows of

the world, appreciate the great sacrifices, the unselfish work of

those through whom it became possible for us to have this beauti-

ful building to be located here, which will always be the pride of

our city and county and state.

With twenty-five years of experience with libraries and li-

brary building, and without fear of successful contradiction, I

am here to say that there is no private library in the state that

measures up in any manner to this library, quantity and quality

considered.

It contains historical data, manuscripts and curios, unable

to be found anywhere. Men of high education, and historical

turn of mind have traveled thousands of miles across both oceans

to delight and revel in this golden mine of research.

All this and more, the efforts, energy and foresight, of a life

time of Brother Hayes, and his children is a free gift to the people

of Ohio and of the nation.

On behalf of the Odd Fellows I wish to express our sincere

thanks to Col. Webb C. Hayes and through him to the rest of the

family, for this magnificent gift. A value in a conservative finan-

cial estimate would reasonably be worth at least a half million

dollars.

There are many other things that might be mentioned in this

connection that are within my own personal knowledge, of which

I would like to speak at this time but will suffice it to say that

Col. Webb C. Hayes is ever alert for the best interests of our

community and never permits an opportunity to pass to put Fre-

mont and the state of Ohio upon the map.

It is a well known fact that he is personally acquainted with

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422       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

more public men, and men that do things in our nation than any

other citizen of the state.

I feel it a privilege, as well as a pleasant duty in behalf of

our order, and citizens to publicly thank Senator T. A. Dean for

his successful efforts in securing the necessary legislation to make

this Memorial Building possible.

I also wish to express our appreciation to ex-Governor Jud-

son Harmon for the interest he manifested in behalf of the

Memorial Building.

As historian of Croghan Lodge No. 77, I. O. O. F., I find the

following facts.

Croghan Lodge No. 77, I. O. O. F. was instituted February 5,

1847, at Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, Ohio.

The charter members of the lodge were N. S. Cook, D. H.

Hershey, W. M. Starks, B. W. Lewis and A. E. Wood.

The first officers of the lodge were elected February 5, 1847.

N. S. Cook, Noble Grand.

D. H. Hershey, Vice Grand.

W. M. Starks, Secretary.

R. W. Lewis, Treasurer.

The first brother to present a petition for membership in the

lodge was John Smith, and on Feb. 5, 1847, he was initiated.

The second meeting, Feb. 13, 1847, John Bell. John M.

Smith, A. Coles, J. B. Smith, Charles Fitch and L. B. Otis were

initiated into the order.

The lodge prospered and was busy every night conferring

the degree on new members.

Sept. 15, 1849, the application of Rutherford B. Hayes was

presented and referred to a committee of E. I. Orton, L. S. Foulk

and W. B. Kridler. The lodge then adjourned to meet in special

session Monday evening, Sept. 17, 1849, at which meeting Grand

Master Glen, of Grand Lodge of Ohio initiated Rutherford B.

Hayes into the order and instructed him in all the degrees, brother

Hayes being the forty-third member.

The first office held by Brother R. B. Hayes in the lodge was

on Oct. 6, 1849, when he was appointed right supporter to the

Noble Grand, John L. Greene, Brother C. R. McCulloch acting

in the Vice Grand chair at this time.

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424       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Nov. 19, 1849, R. B. Hayes was duly installed in this office

which he surrendered on his removal to Cincinnati, the same year.

On his return to Fremont in 1873, he re-joined Croghan Lodge.

Brother C. R. McCulloch who died a few years ago, was the

last surviving member of our lodge that belonged at the time

Brother Hayes was initiated into the order.

He was a brother whose spirit was filled with the milk of

human kindness. His hand was always administering benefac-

tions to his fellow men. In the councils of the lodge he was

wise, prudent and generous. His opinion was sought for and

relied upon in all emergencies. At the time of his death, he was

chairman of the local committee of Odd Fellows, appointed to

secure for Fremont the Odd Fellows' Orphans' Home for the

state of Ohio.

After filling the highest office in the gift of the greatest

people on earth he returned to the rank and file, a true type of the

American citizen, in the broadest and noblest sense, and engaged

in the mission of doing good to humanity.

He visited the sick, relieved the downtrodden and distressed,

and did everything within his power to educate and live up to

the standard of mankind.

General Hayes was ever kind, true and unselfish in all his

dealings; a man of the most exalted character, a soldier of dis-

tinction, a patriot, and a statesman.

His personal history is a part of the history of the Union;

in honoring him we honor ourselves.

During the decade in Cincinnati he was also an active

member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which he

had joined at Lower Sandusky. He was in frequent requisition

for lectures before various lodges of the Odd Fellows, and the

diary mentions with natural pride the applause and prominence

that came to him therefrom:

"Last evening I rejoined Croghan lodge I. O. O. F. I be-

longed to it when I left Fremont in 1849, almost 33 years ago.

I have long been satisfied that they were in many ways very

useful. Leaving out the beneficial feature, which is certainly

valuable, the social and educational elements are excellent. All

descriptions of reputable people are here brought together and

• 24
 

Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.       425

 

instructed in the orderly management of public business. All

are on their best behavior, a fraternal friendship is cultivated,

virtuous and temperate habits are encouraged, and the best of

our social instincts are called into play. The festive organiza-

tions, convivial clubs, and the like are not safe places of resort

for all natures. No man can be worse for the associations of Odd

Fellowship and their kindred organizations. Most men will be

made better. With this perhaps too moderate estimate of the

society, I am glad to unite with it again."--(Diary January 1,

1882).

At the conclusion of Mr. Thraves' historical address the

chairman introduced Hon. Ivor Hughes, Past Grand Master of

the Grand Lodge of Ohio, of Columbus, who was a lifelong

warm personal friend of Rutherford B. Hayes.

 

 

ADDRESS OF IVOR HUGHES.

Members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Friends:

I come to your beautiful little city of Fremont from my home

in the capital of our state to join with you in the dedication of

this beautiful edifice erected to the memory of him who was great

in everything that constitutes true greatness, true manhood.

On the 30th day of May in the year 1878, there gathered in

the city of Paris, France, one of the largest assemblages of men

and women that had ever before that time convened for a like

purpose in that or any other city of the civilized world. In that

vast audience were to be found many of the great men and

women not only of France but of many other of the civilized

countries of the globe. They had assembled to pay tribute to the

memory of a distinguished Frenchman of whose death the oc-

casion was the one hundredth anniversary.

The speaker was Victor Hugo, another great man. The

opening words of his address were: "Men and women of

France, one hundred years ago today a man died." Had the

speaker uttered not another word he would in that concise sen-

tence have paid to the memory of the dead the highest compli-

ment that it is possible to express or pay to the living or the

dead. Just pause a moment for thought as to how comprehensive

that expression is, "A man died." Think for a moment how

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426       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

much those words involve-"A man." Today, my friends, as

I look back over a period of almost a quarter of a century to the

17th day of January, 1893, from what I personally knew of

Rutherford Birchard Hayes, I feel fully and safely warranted

in adopting the words of Victor Hugo on the occasion to which

I have referred, and in saying to you that when our friend and

brother in whose memory we assemble here today, departed this

life "A man died."

He possessed all of the qualities, the characteristics of true

manhood. He was an honest man, honest with himself, honest

with his fellow men. He was patriotic, brave and fearless in

defense of what he believed to be right. When from the cannon's

mouth there came the sudden fearful sound of fratricidal war,

he hesitated not, at the call of his country, he buckled on his

sword, shouldered his musket, and with brave heart, true

patriotism  and unflinching loyalty entered the service of his

country, not for three months or a year, but for the whole war,

not for glory, not for any temporal honor that might come to

him, no such motives found lodgment in his true American heart;

no, no, he went to the front, entered the thickest of the fight

with the loyal intent and purpose of helping hand down to pos-

terity an undivided country, and an unblemished flag.

Were he here today to talk to you he would admonish you

that he only is a true American, who is ever willing and ready

to defend our flag, no matter from  whence comes the hand

uplifted against it. Methinks that in the stillness of this sacred

hour, I hear his spirit-voice saying to you and to me, "Stand by

the flag." Watch over it with jealous care; frown down any and

all suggestions that would take from its glory, ever stand ready

to maintain its dignity with your life's blood if necessary. From

this man's example let us take lessons for our guidance in life.

He was true to every trust. He was elevated by his fellow-

countrymen to many positions of honor and trust both in private

and public life, but after all we honored ourselves most in honor-

ing him.

On the tented field, in the halls of legislation, as chief execu-

tive of our state, as president of our nation, in every position

of trust and responsibility to which he was called, he discharged

• 26
 

Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.          427

the duties thereof honorably, and with the highest degree of

fidelity.

To his friends and neighbors, to all who knew him best, his

life is a happy, pleasant, instructive volume. It is a book on every

page of which appears the impression of a well spent, a noble

life, from and by which we are reminded that-

 

"His memory is the shrine

Of pleasant thoughts soft as the scent of flowers;

Calm as on windless eve the sun's decline;

Sweet as the song of birds among the flowers;

Rich as a rainbow with its hues of light;

Pure as the moonbeams on an autumn night."

 

After he had served his country in public life, with that true

modesty characteristic of great men, he returned here to devote

the remaining years of his life to the work of philanthropy and

education. To you my brother Odd Fellows he gave much of his

time and labor. He was an Odd Fellow in spirit and in truth.

Brother Hayes' influence as an Odd Fellow has gone forth, and

that influence will continue to live, doing honor to the noble man-

hood that exerted it, during an active and useful life. Though

we are deprived of his kind, genial companionship, though bereft

of the benefit of his wise counsel, though there is lost to us the

advantage of his aid and kind sympathy, and the inspiration of his

presence, notwithstanding all these great and significant losses,

there is left to us the rich and lasting legacy of his noble example;

and, therefore, as we sit here with bowed heads, sorrowful hearts

and tearful eyes asking the question-

"And is he dead, whose glorious mind,

Lifts thine on high?"

 

There is suggested to us the happy, peaceful answer that-

"To live in hearts we leave behind,

Is not to die."

 

No, my brothers, our brother Hayes is not dead, neither will

he be so long as you and I, or any of those who knew him, live.

His name and his life will continue to exist as long as we live;

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428       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

yes, even until the last of those who knew him on earth shall be

called to "The silent halls of death." He will need no monument

of bronze or polished marble shaft to keep alive the recollection

of his busy life. The Odd Fellows who knew him will continue

to remember him as long as an unimpaired mentality is left to

them.

Brother Hayes was one of the members of our great Order,

of whom it can truthfully be said:

 

"Such men die not, but on the arms of love,

We who have felt their power and knew their care,

Lift them to brighter skies, and fairer scenes,

Beyond the reach of earthly toil and fear."

 

Did time permit, I might point out the noble, worthy foot-

prints which he has left "on the sands of time," footprints in

which we may tread with honor to ourselves and benefit to the

Order. It will well repay us to carefully study his life and make

an honest effort to emulate his worthy, rich example. As a hus-

band and father he was kind, affectionate, and indulgent; as a

friend he was both loyal and true; as a citizen he was patriotic;

as an Odd Fellow he practiced the principles of Friendship, Love

and Truth, exemplifying in his daily life a full realization and

perfect understanding of the true, fraternal relationship which

the Creator intended should exist between the members of the

human family.

True, his earthly life and presence are no more, but in the

sacred, silent chambers of our memories, the example of his life

will ever remain as a legacy of priceless worth.

Interested though he was in many walks of life, he more than

all others loved the Order which we here represent. His genial

and kind nature seemed in perfect harmony with the grand and

great lessons of our beloved Order. His name will be revered

and many a kindly act of his, many a cheerful word will be the

subject of grateful remembrance.

His fidelity and devotion to our Fraternity was no heartless

and halfway service. It was the full, free unstinted love of a

heart warm with affection baptized with the spirit of a noble

humanity.

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.             429

 

"We'll not forget thee, we who stay,

To work a little longer here;

Thy name, thy faith, thy love shall lie

On memory's page all bright and clear.

And when o'er wearied with the toil

Of life, our heavy limbs shall be,

We'll come and one by one lie down

Upon dear mother earth with thee."

 

My brothers, surrounded though we are on this occasion

with sad memories, there is in the thoughts that present them-

selves rich food for reflection, as we recall the lives of those who

have "gone before." In thinking over their lives let us draw from

them lessons that will be beneficial to us in our every day life.

Let us make an honest, earnest effort to live so that our pathways

shall be strewn with happy recollections and pleasant memories.

 

"So live that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan that moves

To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take

His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,

Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."

 

Thus did our departed brother live, and though his frail

tabernacle of clay has been gathered to its kindred dust, the bril-

liant legacy of noble deeds, of faithful labors, of domestic affec-

tion, of official integrity, will survive the grave, and transmit

immortal blessings through the cycles of infinite change.

Survived by living and loving witnesses of his virtue and his

worth, we as friends and brothers pause for a brief moment to

add this tribute to his memory.

 

"The night dew that falls, though in silence it weeps,

Shall brighten with verdure, the grave where he sleeps,

And the tear that we shed, though in silence it rolls,

Shall long keep his memory green in our souls."

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430      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

 

DISTINGUISHED VISITORS.

Governor Frank B. Willis was the first of Tuesday's dis-

tinguished guests to arrive. Thomas J. Maxwell joined him at

Fostoria, and at Bradner they were met by John M. Sherman in

his closed car and hurried to Spiegel Grove.

U. S. Senator Atlee Pomerene and Congressman A. W.

Overmyer were met at Fostoria at 9:23 a. m. by R. J. Christy,

Emery Lattanner, W. E. Lang and Dell Cushman, in the latter's

new National car.

Ex-Governor James E. Campbell and a number of the officers

and trustees of the Archaeological and Historical Society were

met at the F. & F. station at 12:30 by Judge W. B. McConnell,

Hon. James G. Hunt and Homer Sherman and taken immediately

to the Grove.

Capt. A. O. Baumann, commanding Co. K, 6th Inf. Ohio

National Guard, sent firing squads to the cemeteries and, with

the remainder of his company, pitched his shelter tents and com-

pany mess-tent in Spiegel Grove and remained on duty till the

close of the afternoon exercises. They were especially efficient

in passing the crowd of school children through the Memorial

Building, and received with proper military courtesies the Gov-

ernor of Ohio, Hon. F. B. Willis, and later in the day the Hon.

Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, whom they escorted from

the Buckland gateway to the residence in Spiegel Grove.

Secretary of War Newton D. Baker and Mrs. Baker were

met at the 1:20 N. Y. C., by Col. Webb C. Haves, Thomas A.

Dean, H. C. DeRan, James G. Hunt, Judge W. B. McConnell,

R. J. Christy, Hon. A. W. Overmyer and others, and escorted to

the Grove in Judge McConnell's car.

Mrs. Baker was taken in charge by Mrs. Webb C. Hayes,

Mrs. C. R. Truesdall, Mrs. M. Holderman, and Mrs. Louis A.

Dickinson, following in the Hayes car to the Grove.

Along the line of march through the Grove the secretary was

saluted by Captain Sayles' Maccabee rifle company drawn up,

along the driveway.

Both of these incidents very much impressed the Secretary

of War and were greatly appreciated by him. In each instance he

• 30
 

Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.       431   very graciously doffed his hat in recognition of the honor thus paid him. When it was suggested to him that these were the boys who would help him in Mexico in case the situation came to that, he very earnestly and seemingly sadly remarked, "Yes, yes, I know, but we hope and pray they will not be needed." Immediately upon the arrival of Secretary Baker the real dedication of the Memorial, the Grove and the Mansion was begun.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Gathered about the speakers' stand Tuesday afternoon on the spacious lawn fronting the noble Hayes mansion in far-famed Spiegel Grove, a vast multitude listened with rapt attention to the eloquent program of prayer and speech, song and music, which dedicated the magnificent memorial erected by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society to perpetuate the memory of Ohio's most illustrious son, Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the United States, 1877-1881. The meeting was called to order by Pres. G. F. Wright, who spoke as follows:   ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT WRIGHT. My Fellow Citizens:

The dedication here today of the Hayes Memorial Library and Museum, erected in the Spiegel Grove State Park, will serve to perpetuate the memory of Ruth- erford Birchard Hayes, whose services were preeminently valua- ble in the Union Army during the War for the Union; in Congress, as a representative from his State; in the office of Governor of Ohio (to which he was elected three times); and as the nine- teenth President of the United

States.  An additional interest in this occasion is given by

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432       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

the coincidence that Spiegel Grove, which by dedication be-

comes the property of the State, to be preserved as a Park per-

petuating the memory of President Hayes, also in some degree

perpetuates the name of William Henry Harrison, the first Ohio

President.

Through these grounds may still be traced the trail over

which General Harrison led his army in 1813 to the decisive vic-

tories on land which preceded and followed that of Perry on

Lake Erie; while an impressive gateway to the Grove does due

honor to this distinguished citizen of the State and to his brave

and noble army.

The event which we now celebrate in the completion of this

beautiful building and in setting it apart with its invaluable

library and its marvelous collection of historical relics, together

with the opening of Spiegel Grove as a public park, may well

arouse the patriotism of the whole nation. Long before the army

of 1813 passed through these grounds, the aboriginal inhabitants

of America had been in the habit of threading their way under

its majestic trees on the trail leading from the Great Lakes to

the Ohio River. Almost in sight of where we now stand, also, is

the monument to Major Croghan and his gallant band who a

short time before Perry's Victory, defended Fort Stephenson

against an overwhelming force of British and Indians, and com-

pelled General Proctor to withdraw, thus saving Ohio from in-

vasion.

It is an interesting coincidence that this center of historic

interest was in early life chosen as his residence by Rutherford

Birchard Hayes, who by his preeminent qualities, both military

and civil, rose to the highest position which a citizen of the

United States may hope to attain. Of the deeds of this most dis-

tinguished citizen of Fremont the orator of the day will speak.

It remains for me only to give a brief history of Spiegel Grove

and the building which we now dedicate.

When about the middle of the last century, Spiegel Grove

was chosen for the Hayes' family residence it was completely

covered with a primeval forest. A space in the center, sufficient

to let in sunlight and to afford a beautiful and spacious lawn,

was cleared, and the future home erected upon it. In later years

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.       433

 

additions were made until it assumed its present stately propor-

tions. The original Grove consists of about twenty-five acres,

all within the two square miles of the old Indian Free City,

deeded to the United States in 1786 by treaty, and now known as

Fremont. Through the generosity, filial devotion and public spirit

of a son, Colonel Webb C. Hayes, who had come into possession

of the property, the whole tract was offered to the State as a

public park in memory of his parents. His deed simply required

its maintenance as a State park and:

"That the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society

should secure the erection upon that part of Spiegel Grove here-

tofore conveyed to the State of Ohio for a State Park, a suitable

fireproof building, on the site reserved opposite the Jefferson

Street entrance, for the purpose of preserving and forever keep-

ing in Spiegel Grove all papers, books and manuscripts left by

the said Rutherford B. Hayes *  * *   which building shall be

in the form of a Branch Reference Library and Museum of the

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, and the con-

struction and decoration of the said building shall be in the

nature of a memorial also to the soldiers, sailors, and pioneers of

Sandusky County; and suitable memorial tablets, busts and dec-

orations indicative of the historical events and patriotic citizen-

ship of Sandusky County shall be placed in and on said building,

and said building shall forever remain open to the public under

proper rules and regulations to be hereafter made by said

Society."

The Legislature of Ohio generously appropriated $50,000.

Of this, $40,000 was used toward the building and $10,000 was

for paving the streets surrounding Spiegel Grove. Impressive

entrances to the grounds, through gateways bordered with mas-

sive walls of granite boulders, were constructed by Colonel Hayes.

Two of these gateways are between immense cannon erected on

end and inscribed, in the one case to the memory of the French

and British Explorers, and the Soldiers of the War of 1812 who

passed over the Harrison Trail; and in the other to the soldiers

of Sandusky County who served in the War with Mexico and the

War for the Union. The bodies of President and Mrs. Hayes

were transferred to the beautiful knoll in the Grove, together with

Vol. XXV-28

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434      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

the modest monument which President Hayes before his death

had erected, in Oakwood Cemetery, of Vermont granite, from

the quarries near his father's birthplace. Colonel Hayes has

expended in increasing the attractions of the Grove and the

buildings in it, together with its endowment, about $100,000 in

cash. This with adjoining real estate and the value of the Hayes

Memorial Library represents by fair valuation a quarter of a

million dollars, which becomes the property of the State, en-

trusted to the care of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society.

As pilgrims come to this sacred spot from far and near they

cannot fail to be impressed with the importance of the historical

events which are here commemorated, and with the debt which

we owe to the heroic men who did so much here both to obtain

and to preserve the liberties of our country. With Major

Croghan in the nearby Fort Stephenson Park they will, in im-

agination, await the psychological moment when the order comes

to let loose the charge from "Old Betsy" that was to destroy the

British forces that were making their final assault. With eager

steps they will march with General Harrison and his army,

through the southern gateway, along the old Indian trail, as he

hastens from his headquarters at Fort Seneca to embark, at the

portage of Port Clinton, upon Perry's victorious ships, to be

landed in Canada for the triumphant victory of the Thames.

Through the western gateway, they will be thrilled by the thought

of the heroes that from this county fell in the Mexican War and

in the War for the Union, and by the memory of General Mc-

Pherson, the highest in rank and command to fall upon the field

of battle in the War for the Union. At the grave of President

Hayes and in this memorial building a flood of memories will

come as they recall his gallantry on the field of battle, his wise

administration of the government of his native State, and of the

transcendent service which he rendered in the face of violent

opposition and abuse as president of the United States to restore

that loyalty and good feeling which we now witness in such full

degree between the warring sections of fifty years ago. All these

are monuments to remind us of the extreme and unselfish devo-

tion of private interests to the public good which are shown only

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.         435

by soldiers and statesmen of the highest rank. Here may we

come in increasing numbers to devote ourselves anew to the ser-

vice of our country and our common humanity.

President Wright then introduced the Rev. J. C. Roberts,

pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, of Fremont,

who delivered this invocation:

"Our Heavenly Father we praise Thee for all the things that

tell us of Thy presence in the earth. We thank Thee for this

day. The day when we remember those who have made possible

the spirit of this hour. This day when we carry the flowers Thou

hast made and reverently lay them on the graves of the men who

died that the nation might live.

We praise Thee for the life of the Republic. Thou hast led

us thus far, and we believe Thou wilt lead us to the end of the

journey. We would not be unmindful of the lives of all great

national leaders. We are especially grateful this day for the

life and service of our own Rutherford Birchard Hayes. The

simplicity, consistency, fidelity and devotion of his life appeal to

every American. May the mantle of his patriotism fall on every

one here assembled.

We must ever praise Thee for the noble life of our very

own Lucy Webb Hayes, first lady of the land, as noble as the

President. More than any other woman in America she has lifted

the stainless white banner of devoted motherhood, faithful wife-

hood, pure social life, and unswerving fidelity to the noblest ideals

of Christian womanhood. She has lifted every woman to higher

ideals. The memory of her faultless life leaves a halo on the

brow of womanhood.

We thank Thee today for the generosity of Colonel Webb

C. Hayes, the honored son of our first citizen. For his noble

and most generous wife, who has joined him in making possible

this hour. The benefits of their united giving will bless not only

the nation and the State, but every citizen of Fremont for all the

years. Bless, we pray Thee today, the rich gifts that have been

laid by these hands on the altar of the State, and in the trembling

hand of the sick and suffering of humanity. May the hand of

the world's Savior rest in blessing on the filial and patriotic

devotions of material values.

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Dedication of the Haves Memorial.      437

 

Bless, we pray, the Republic of which we are a part. Be

with all who are in places of leadership. Guide the Nation

through all dangers to a safe harbor. Help us to become to all

nations the truest expression of the divine program for human

government.

We ask all in the name of Jesus Christ who has given us

the ideals upon which all lasting human civilizations must stand.

Amen."

"The Star Spangled Banner" was then sung by the Col.

George Croghan Chapter, D. A. R., and the Fremont Church

Choirs (who were seated on a specially constructed platform to

the right of the speakers' stand), and led by Prof. Alfred Arthur,

leader of the 23d Regiment Band; accompanied by the Woodman

Band.

President Wright then introduced his Honor, Mayor George

Kinney, of Fremont, who gave the following address of welcome:

 

 

ADDRESS OF MAYOR GEORGE W. KINNEY.

Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, through and by whose

grand achievements and devotion to duty we are able to dedicate

this magnificent memorial- this historic mansion - this match-

less grove-this place of beauty-to the sacred memory of

Rutherford B. Hayes, I bid you welcome.

To all you aged soldiers of the War for the Union who were

his allies in war and his comrades in peace, who come here to

evidence your love and devotion to your old commander, I bid

you welcome.

To all you honorable gentlemen, representatives of this great

nation and state who honor us by your presence in this dedicatory

service to the memory of one of the noblest of America's great

men, I bid you welcome.

To all other organizations and associations, and especially the

Odd Fellows, of which he was an active and devoted member for

fifty years -some of you have known him all these years, yet

none knew him but to love, and none named him but to praise, and

any and all of you come to express your love, respect and ad-

miration for your townsman and your friend, I bid you welcome.

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438       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

The thing we dedicate here today has not been erected as a

temporary expedient, but will stand as a monument for all time

to the glory of this society, this state, and the distinguished dead.

It will serve as a perpetual reminder to your children's children

of the many kind acts done, the many kind words spoken by this

noble man and still more noble woman, whose ashes lie at rest

in this consecrated ground.

It will arouse inspirations and aspirations and create ideals

for the young they can never forget. May its influence go with

them through life and when aged and gray, may they be truthfully

able to say:

"Still over these scenes my memory walks

And fondly broods with miser care;

Time the impression but stronger make

As streams their channels deeper wear."

 

We are not unmindful of the jewels placed in our keeping

this day. By erecting this memorial building of the everlasting

rock, and placing such priceless treasures therein of books and

parchments, you have made this a city of refuge for future

scholars--a Mecca for future ages, for which we are indeed

deeply grateful.

History is always tardy to do justice to the great-it is

too soon for his eulogy - too soon for his history - but a future

age will render the honor and glory to him which has been un-

justly withheld by this.

Possessed of the wisdom of the present and the past - he

knew how to become great without ceasing to be virtuous - fame

should be earnest in her joy, and proud of such a son. He fought,

but not for love of strife -he struck but to defend-he never

became estranged from any man before he sought to be his friend.

He stood the firm, the wise, the patriot sage-he cherished

his neighbor, he loved his country, and revered his God.

When time shall have come, and come it will, that the his-

torians will have recatalogued the galaxy of America's greatest

men, you will find written at the poll, or very near the poll, the

fair fame and sacred name of R. B. Hayes.

Once again I bid you all a solemn and cordial welcome, and

• 38
 

Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        439

 

ask each and every one of you to register here on this consecrated

spot a solemn vow to preserve this nation forever and forever to

the American - peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must, but for

America, America forever and forever.

Mr. Charles R. Williams, of Princeton, biographer of Ruth-

erford Birchard Hayes, then delivered the following address:

 

 

ADDRESS OF CHARLES R. WILLIAMS.

We are met today to signalize the formal dedication of the

Hayes Memorial building. There has been no occasion like this

in all the history of our beloved country. It is made possible by

the gracious cooperation of filial affection and worthy public

appreciation, for which I recall no parallel in our annals. By

deed of gift, a few years ago, Colonel Webb C. Hayes conveyed

to the state, for the benefit of the Archaeological and Historical

Society, this beautiful historic grove, through which ran the

famous Indian trail by which William Henry Harrison marched

his forces to Lake Erie, and whose ancient oaks had sheltered

savage wigwams and been lighted by the bivouac fires of hardy

frontier soldiers of 1812. The gift was on condition that the

society should procure the erection of a suitable fireproof build-

ing for the permanent preservation of the books and papers and

personal belongings of President and Mrs. Hayes. Of course the

society, of which Mr. Hayes was long president, and which has

done so much to gather, to investigate, and to preserve records

and documents and objects of historical and archaeological sig-

nificance, was rejoiced to accept the gift and to undertake the

trust. And the state, through legislature and governor  both,

as it happened, Democratic at the time -was not slow to mani-

fest its appreciation of the gift and to do its share to make the

gift secure, rightly esteeming its patriotic purpose and its large

and permanent worth. To Senator T. A. Dean, of Fremont, for

his effective presentation of the cause before the legislature, we

should not fail, on this day of rejoicing, to give special credit and

praise. He saw clearly, he spoke persuasively -  for the honor

of Ohio's greatest President, for the dignity and glory of the

state.

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440      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

• 40
 

Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        441

 

So, as I said a moment ago, in dedicating this beautiful

structure of Ohio stone and enduring bronze, built to commem-

orate the life and public services of Ohio's pre-eminent citizen,

we are celebrating today the finished result of the gracious co-

operation of filial affection and worthy public appreciation.

Through the long future, this fair grove, with its immemorial

trees and trees of sentimental appeal, rich in its associations with

 

-"old, unhappy, far-off things

And battles long ago."

embowering the spacious mansion, still redolent of the unclouded

domestic felicity of which it was the centre, and surcharged with

memories of gracious and abounding hospitality, of numberless

patriotic gatherings in which great and famous men had part, of

peaceful communing of its master with good books and devoted

friends, of self-sacrificing benevolent activities, will remain, un-

desecrated by vandal industry, uncontaminated by commercial

exploitation. Under the protecting aegis of the society and the

state, Spiegel Grove-haunt and habitation of good spirits-

will abide in perpetuity, a grateful source of pleasure and recre-

ation to this community; a shrine for patriotic visitors from afar,

who shall have formed true judgment of the noble part in our

history enacted, through long and strenuous years, by the man

whose home this was. Here men of remote generations shall see

the very surroundings, the very house with its familiar furnish-

ings and objects of use and ornament, in which abode, with his

gracious and beloved consort, the President, whose wisdom of

administration brought the Civil War epoch of our national

life to a just and happy conclusion. And in this Memorial build-

ing they shall see the books he used and loved, the manuscripts

that record his thoughts, and articles innumerable of utility or

taste which give some hint of his varied interests and of his

manifold activities.

Here, too, in close association, they shall behold intimate

memorials of that rare and beautiful woman whose influence and

inspiration was felt in all that he thought and did, whose char-

acter and life are a perpetual honor and example to American

womanhood. Hither students of American history will resort

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442      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

for study and investigation, and here they shall find treasures

of private and personal information to reward their search, and

to clarify their conclusions touching the measures and the men

of a momentous period.

There is special propriety in conducting this service on this

particular day. It is the day set apart for recalling the deeds

and honoring the memory of the men who served and saved the

country when civil war threatened its destruction. Among those

men, conspicuous for his gallantry and for his devotion to the

country's cause, was the man whose high worth this building

recognizes and commemorates. Well acquainted as most of us

here are with the facts of his life, we shall do well for a little

while to ponder his career and to seek from his example to draw

some inspiration to lofty thought and civic virtue. Of course,

no extended survey of his many-sided life is possible, even if it

were desirable, on an occasion like this. It is sufficient for my

purpose to touch upon his distinctive qualities and achievements,

and to note the principles that governed his thought and conduct.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born at Delaware, Ohio,

October 4, 1822. He was of pure New England parentage, of

English and Scotch descent. His American ancestors were sturdy

pioneers; honest, wholesome, industrious, God-fearing folk, do-

ing faithfully their duty to family and state; and when the war

for independence came, leaping whole-heartedly to the support

of the American cause. The best part of his heritage from his

clean-living New England forebears was a sound physical con-

stitution, a clear and active mind, a tradition of conscientious

rectitude of conduct, and a scrupulous sense of duty. What

better endowment could one desire for a lad, provided he have the

environment and opportunity to develop his powers, and provided

he have the will to make the most of himself? And all this young

Hayes had. There was nothing in the least precocious or out of

the usual in his boyhood and youth. He was fond of sports; he

was fond of the open-air life and adventures with rod and gun

which normal lads of the country enjoy. But with all this he

was conscientiously industrious in his pursuit of knowledge; and

in his college years, boy as he still was, he began to be conscious of

his latent abilities and to seek by rigid self-examination and

• 42
 

Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.         443

 

appraisal of defects to follow the Socratic injunction, "Know thy-

self." This self-scrutiny, this weighing of his own powers in

comparison with others, did not result in egotism or self-conceit;

it only made him see more clearly his own limitations and spurred

him to greater effort for intellectual growth and attainment. And

with this, too, his character was strengthening into self-mastery

and self-reliance, and he was coming to distinct, clear-minded

conclusions on fundamental questions of life and conduct; on

what were the just aims of ambition; on what constituted true

success in human endeavor.

"As far back as memory can carry me," he wrote at nine-

teen, just entering his senior year at Kenyon, "the desire of fame

was uppermost in my thoughts, but I never desired other than

honorable distinction. The reputation which I desire is not that

momentary eminence which is gained without merit and lost with-

out regret. Give me the popularity which runs after, not that

which is sought for. Let me triumph as a man or not at all.

Defeat without disgrace can be borne, but laurels which are not

deserved sit like a crown of thorns on the head of their possessor.

It is, indeed, far better to deserve honors without having them,

than to have them without deserving them."

In these brief sentences of youthful meditation and aspira-

tion we have not only a noble confession of faith, a noble resolu-

tion of soul integrity, but also a luminous prophecy of the attitude

toward public honors and distinctions that during his long life

should characterize their author. For never, throughout his

career, did Mr. Hayes seek any public office, or ask for any pro-

motion, or endeavor to gain any distinction or honor in any one

of the many social or philanthropic organizations of which he

was a member. Offices, honors, promotions, distinctions sought

him out and were pressed upon him. Often they were accepted

with extreme reluctance, but once accepted, the duties they in-

volved were performed with conscientious assiduity. Surely, if

ever a man did, he had the realization of his boyhood's wish.

He won "honorable distinction." He enjoyed "the popularity

which runs after, not that which is sought for." He, indeed,

attained "triumph as a man."

In all the years of his law practice, whatever the demands of

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444      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

his professional engagements or the encroachments on his time

and energy of social life and of his increasing participation in

political effort and civic enterprises, he adhered steadfastly to his

projects for self-discipline and self-culture, and sought ever to

enlarge the sphere of his knowledge. He was always reading

good books; not only books that should amplify his range of

information concerning history and jurisprudence and principles

of liberty and government, but the great books of pure literature

which should quicken his imagination, elevate his thought, fortify

and ennoble his character, and give his spirit fuller and clearer

vision. Here is the rule of reading that he laid down for him-

self in this period; and who could frame a better?

"In general literature, read Burke, Shakespeare and the

standard authors constantly, and always have on hand some book

of worth not before perused. Avoid occasional reading of a light

character. Read always as if I were to repeat it the day after-

ward."

So, unconsciously, he was schooling his mind and character

for the larger duties, the vast responsibilities, which, beyond his

wildest dreams of ambition, the future had in store for him.

Being what he was, there could be no doubt how he would

feel and what he would do when Rebellion raised its angry crest

against our Federal Union. In his diary, intended for no eye but

his own, he wrote with calm deliberation: "I would prefer to go

into the war if I knew I was to die or be killed in the course of it,

than to live through and after it without taking any part in it."

There spoke the pure soul of the man. Looking before and after,

discerning the country's need and peril, laying aside all personal

regard, listening only to the voice of patriotic duty, without hesi-

tation or doubt or fear of consequences, he formed his high re-

solve, he chose with unfaltering purpose "on whose party he

should stand." And into the war he went, and for four years gave

heart and soul to its bloody business, doing with all his mind and

might every task assigned him, heedless of personal peril and too

busy with the work in hand to give a thought to questions of rank

or promotion. He was glad to shed his blood that the good cause

might prosper. Friends in Cincinnati might nominate him for

Congress, if they thought his name would strengthen the Union

• 44
 

Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.       445

 

ticket, while the tide of war was at flood in the Shenandoah

valley. But when they asked him to seek a furlough and come

home to make speeches, that was quite another thing. Instantly,

with something like indignation at the thought, he wrote; "Your

suggestion about getting a furlough to take the stump was certain-

ly made without reflection. An officer fit for duty who at this

crisis would abandon his post to electioneer for a seat in congress

ought to be scalped. You may feel perfectly sure I shall do no

such thing." Let the election go as it might; his duty was with

the colors on "the perilous edge of battle."

It was a crisis in the Republican situation in Ohio in 1875

that forced Mr. Hayes from retirement, much against his will,

and gave him the unprecedented honor of a third nomination for

governor. He had served with credit in congress during the

stormy early days of reconstruction. He had been governor two

terms - abundant in achievement of permanent value to the com-

monwealth. Then, refusing to be elected senator by disloyalty to

John Sherman, he had retired to Spiegel Grove, intending never

again to take a leading part in political life. In 1873 the Demo-

crats had elected William Allen governor by an insignificant

plurality. In 1874 they had swept the state in the congressional

elections. In 1875 the Republicans, almost despairing of their

chances, were yet determined to spare no effort to regain the

state. All eyes turned with one accord toward Mr. Hayes, who

in his previous campaigns had defeated Ohio's ablest Democratic

champions, Allen G. Thurman, and George H. Pendleton; and,

despite his persistent refusal to be a candidate before the nomin-

ating convention, the convention would hear of no other man.

Under the circumstances, he had preforce to yield his personal

preference and accept the nomination.

The dominating issue of the campaign was sound money

versus Greenbackism - the latter making strong and insinuating

appeal to the unthinking masses, suffering from the severe de-

pression which followed the financial crash of 1873. The contest

in Ohio was watched with close and anxious attention by the

entire nation. Mr. Hayes fought the good fight for sound money,

up and down the state, with a vigor and convincing power which

compelled victory. This brilliant success made him at once a

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446      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

national figure; and it was this great achievement more than any-

thing else which caused his party to recognize his fitness for the

Presidency, and which in 1876 procured for him the nomination.

I can only allude to the troublous and tumultuous times

which followed the election. Through all those bitter months of

angry controversy and threatening partisan recrimination, Mr.

Hayes preserved unruffled poise and dignity, desirous only that

right and justice should prevail, whatever his own fate might be.

When the long and rancorous dispute was ended and his title to

the Presidency was declared indefeasible, he entered the White

House with one sole purpose, to serve the interests of the whole

country to the limit of his ability and his opportunity. In his

inaugural address he gave voice to the principle which should

control his conduct in a sentence which at once became a maxim

of political wisdom: "He serves his party best who serves his

country best."

The judgment of posterity, I believe, will pronounce Mr.

Hayes' administration one of the cleanest, sanest, most efficient

administrations in our history. No breath of scandal ever sullied

its fair fame. In all its relations, domestic and foreign, honesty,

efficiency and sound decisions, coupled with dignity and courtesy,

prevailed. And Mr. Hayes has to his enduring credit three

achievements of vast and far-reaching consequence. First: He

settled for all time the dangerous and perplexing Southern ques-

tion on a sound and rational basis. Whatever the past sins of

the Southern states, the national government, Mr. Hayes saw,

could not go on treating those states differently from other states.

That seems too obvious to mention now. It was epoch-making in

1877. Second: Mr. Hayes, always a defender of sound money,

restored specie payments. He did this, to be sure, under a law

passed before he became President, but he had to accomplish his

purpose in defiance of a hostile congress and in the face both of

wide-spread disbelief in its feasibility and doubt of its wisdom,

which only high courage and steadfast determination could have

surmounted. The national credit was established on a firmer basis

than ever and returning prosperity smiled beneficently upon the

land. And, third, he made the first sincere and serious effort to

bring about genuine civil service reform. He did not do all he

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        447

 

had hoped to do in this respect. But in the face of incredible

obloquy and opposition he took the first courageous step which

made possible and soon compelled the adoption of his principles.

In all these great accomplishments he had the active and per-

sistent hostility of powerful influences in his own party. But he

was undismayed, serene in the conviction that he was right, and

he won in spite of all opposition. The event, he felt confident,

would approve the wisdom of his policies and bring the doubters

and antagonists to confusion. And his judgment was altogether

sound. As I have said elsewhere: "When Mr. Hayes entered

upon his term the country was still depressed and suffering from

the effects of the severe financial panic of 1873; and his party

was discredited, riven by internal dissensions, and on the verge

of collapse. When he left the White House, bounding prosperity

made glad the hearts of the people, and his party was once more

triumphant, confident, aggressive. The wonder is that with a

hostile congress, and with his own party disunited in its support

of all the great policies to which he was committed by his letter

of acceptance and his inaugural address, and which he determ-

inedly pursued - the wonder is that he could accomplish as much

as he did. His administration proved and illustrated his own

wise maxim that he serves his party best who serves his country

best. In the face of the protests, the denunciation, and the mal-

ignant enmity of men who had long been leaders of his party, he

serenely maintained his course, firmly convinced in his own mind

that the policies he was enforcing, instead of wrecking his party,

as his detractors angrily prophesied, would bring new strength

and new courage to the Republican cause. And the result proved

that he was far wiser than his critics."

Mr. Hayes returned gladly to Spiegel Grove when his term as

President expired, but not to a life of dignified leisure only.

During the twelve years that still remained to him, he devoted

all his thought and energy, freely and without reward, to the

furtherance of worthy benevolent causes--to the interests of

the old soldiers, to education in the South and in the universities

of Ohio, to the advocacy of manual training in the public schools.

to the amelioration of the condition of the freedmen, and to the

great cause of prison reform. In all these fields of effort he was

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448      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

a leader and not a follower; always an advocate of policies a

little in advance of current popular opinion; just as when Gov-

ernor and President he urged in his messages upon legislature and

congress measures of reform and proposals for new legislation

which only after his time men gained wisdom to appreciate and

to adopt. Detractors and malignant critics might scoff and sneer

and seek to belittle his achievements or to deride his proposals,

but their silly clamor never provoked him to explanation or de-

fense; never disturbed his equanimity; never embittered his

thought. He was willing to let his actions justify themselves,

willing to trust the calm judgment of the future to approve the

wisdom and the righteousness of his conduct.

The controlling principle of his life was simplicity itself.

It was, under all conditions and in all circumstances, to do what

he belived to be right. The motto of the Scotch family of Hayes

from which he traced his descent, was the single Latin word

Recte. That is the adverb form of the word that means straight

or right. In all his conduct, public and private, Mr. Hayes ex-

emplified that motto. He was "straight" in thought and action;

he moved in right lines;; his dealings were void of indirection

or equivocation.

Mr. Hayes believed intensely but intelligently in America,

in its polity, in its future, in its exalted mission under

Divine favor, for the world-for humanity.     His was not

a blind, unreasoning patriotism. His convictions were based on

wide knowledge of history, on prolonged pondering of govern-

mental systems, on thorough understanding of the common people

-their modes of thought, their beliefs, their aspirations. He

knew

"In what a forge and what a heat

Were shaped the anchors"

 

of our Ship of State; and he believed sincerely that

 

"Humanity with all its fears,

With all its hopes of future years,

Was hanging breathless on her fate."

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        449

 

And yet he was fully conscious of the faults and defects and

dangers of our system, of the constant vigilance necessary to pre-

serve "the jewel of liberty in the house of freedom," of the

perils arising from the prodigious concentration of wealth in a

few hands and from the clash of contending interests and jealous-

ies of class, of the new duties that new occasions were continually

teaching. But he never lost faith in the Republic, never doubted

the essential soundness of the people, never despaired that right

causes would in the end prevail, if men that saw the right

worked on steadily, hopefully, patiently.

In his young manhood, in a letter to his betrothed, he gave

striking expression of his fine spirit of optimism, which increas-

ing years and experience could never quench nor qualify: "When

I see the immeasurable changes which a century or two have

produced," he wrote, "it gives me heart to throw my little efforts

in favor of the good projects of the age, however slow their

apparent progress. Nothing great is accomplished in a day, but

gradually the strong hours conquer all obstacles." Take heart,

take heart, O ye of little faith-even ye who through the lurid

clouds of the mad and frightful war now devastating Europe

seem to hear infernal angels croaking the doom of civilization.

For, be assured "Our sins cannot push the Lord's right hand

from under"; be assured that, in God's good time, "gradually the

strong hours shall conquer all obstacles."

One quality further of Mr. Hayes I must note and empha-

size, and that was his love for Fremont, his appreciation of the

respect and confidence of her people that he enjoyed, his pride

in her growth and prosperity, his interest in all that contributed to

her welfare. Here only was his real home, and whenever he was

absent from it he longed for the day of his return. He was

deeply touched by the public reception given him here by friends

and neighbors of all parties after his nomination for the Presi-

dency. As his term was nearing its close, he looked forward,

with eager anticipation, "to the freedom, independence and safety

of the obscure and happy home in the pleasant grove at Fremont."

When, at Cleveland, the sudden attack which was to prove fatal

came upon him and he was urged to delay his journey home, he

declared: "I would rather die at Spiegel Grove than to live

Vol. XXV- 29

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450      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

anywhere else." His regard for Fremont was not confined to

mere sentiment. No project for its betterment but had his

sympathy, his counsel, his assistance. It is due to his activity

and to his generosity that the city has its public parks and its

library. For, whatever fame or fortune Fremont may attain, to

the country and the world at large it will alway be chiefly notable

because it was here that Rutherford B. Hayes had his home.

It will be a perpetual benediction to the people of state and

nation that Ohio has erected and will maintain this beautiful

building to commemorate the fame and achievements of her

great citizen. The future, in my judgment, will increase his fame,

will come to a clearer and fuller understanding, and so to a just

appreciation of the greatness and value of his achievements. His

character and worth shine more resplendent with every fresh con-

templation of his career. I can only repeat, by way of perora-

tion, what I have already said elsewhere, and what my added

reflection reaffirms and enforces:

"He may not have possessed transcendent intellectual gifts,

nor the brilliancy and imaginative power displayed by great

orators, but he had, in equipoise and under complete control, all

the solid qualities of character and mind which fit a man to win

the confidence of his fellows and mark him for their chosen

leader. These were a clear and penetrating intelligence, impreg-

nable to the assaults of sophistry; a judgment, cautious and de-

liberate in action, but when once formed not to be shaken from

its conviction; a will that did not waver; sincerity and honesty

of mind and act; absolute veracity and candor in speech and

conduct; faithfulness in discharging every obligation imposed on

him or assumed by him; constant and unquestioning obedience

to the commands of duty; a conscience void of offense; a patriot-

ism that rose above party, that was founded on intense faith

in the American constitution and an abiding belief in the high

mission, under Providence, of America in the world, and that

was ready to give his life for his country's welfare; an under-

standing of the common people-the great masses of his fellow

countrymen-and full sympathy with their needs and aspirations;

unselfish interest in all wise endeavors for the public good. And

with all this he was

• 50
 

Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.            451   "Rich in saving common-sense, And, as the greatest only are, In his simplicity, sublime." Surely, we shall be dull indeed of apprehension if we catch no inspiration from his ardor for humanity; if we feel no impulse to emulate the virtues which made his service to the world so great. I, at least, thing of him always as of "One who never turned his back but marched breast forward, Never doubted clouds would break, Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph, Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, Sleep to wake." After a song, the Hon. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, representing the President of the United States, was presented and spoke in part as follows:     ADDRESS OF HON. NEWTON D. BAKER, SECRETARY OF WAR. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: Before leaving Washington last night, I was charged by the President of the United States to convey to you his greetings,

and to say that it is a matter of sin- cere regret to him that he is not able to be here on this significant occasion. He would have paid a tribute not only to the great office in which President Hayes preceded him, but as he is a scholar himself he would have borne a scholar's testimony to the eminent service rendered in that office by Ru- therford B. Hayes. We have been richly favored here today in the address just closed. Dr. Williams, whose biography of Presi- dent Hayes is and always will be a standard work dealing with that sub-

ject, has detailed for us the life of this President from the days of his childhood through the testing years of the civil war, and

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452      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

into that serene and mellow age of retirement in which the people

of Fremont best knew the ex-President. Little, therefore, re-

mains to be added to the tribute which Dr. Williams has paid,

but I can perhaps be permitted to recall two incidents in my own

life which associated his personality and political fortunes with

my own thinking.

The first of these was in 1876, when I was between four

and five years of age, living in the town of Martinsburg, W. Va.,

and though of very tender age, still an extremely ardent political

partisan. It was the day of party flag-poles, and the custom

throughout the countryside and in all the villages was that the

rival parties should erect great poles, and on the top of them

place their party emblem. In the public square of my native

village, there were erected two such poles, one for Tilden, sur-

mounted by a broom, and one for Hayes, surmounted by a glisten-

ing globe. As I was a very earnest Democrat, and was quite sure in

all the philosophy of my four years of life that that party repre-

sented the truest traditions of the Republic, I naturally was very

zealous for the pole surmounted by the broom, and I discovered

that when I walked on one side of the square the Democratic

pole seemed the taller, while when I walked on the other side

of the square, the one below the globe seemed the higher. I,

therefore, contracted at that early age the habit of walking around

the northwest side of the square whenever my journeys took me

through that place, and to this day when I visit Martinsburg,

and want to cross the square, I follow the same practice, although

the poles have long since been taken down and the broom and

the globe disappeared from every memory but mine.

Later, in 1890, I was a student at Johns Hopkins University

when Mr. Hayes, then ex-President, came there to make an ad-

dress before the Historical Seminary of which I was a member.

More recent political activities of other men had obscured all

my recollections of the period from 1876 to 1880, and I went to

hear Mr. Hayes with little else in my mind except the childish

recollection of the rivalry of the party poles, but after his ad-

dress, I asked myself who is this simple and scholarly gentleman,

so wise and patriotic and generous? How does it come that I

do not know more of his service to his country? And I im-

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.         453

mediately read his biography, and consulted those American his-

tories which covered the period of his service as a soldier and

as a statesman, only to discover that from his earliest youth he

had adopted and lived up to high standards of honor and patriot-

ism, that the idea of service to his country was always the

dominant idea, that he constantly put behind him advantage and

self-seeking, and sought only the place of danger or responsi-

bility, trusting always that if he did his best for his country,

his own fortunes could well be permitted to take care of them-

selves. The struggles of the period before the war between the

States and during that terrible conflict developed high capacities,

and yet this Ohio soldier emerged from the crowd, became a

marked man and conspicuous public servant, rose from the sol-

dier's camp to the Governor's chair and then to the Presidency,

the greatest office in our great Republic, and then, after he had

fully performed all that could be asked of a citizen, he retired,

unspoiled, simple as he was brave, continuing out of office, as a

sage philosopher and adviser to his country, the patriotic services

he had performed while a trusted and responsible executive. He

engaged in no acrimonious disputes. He assaulted none of his

successors nor their policies, he remembered no personal ani-

mosities, and cherished no envy of those who were still in the

active stages of their lives. But, in the midst of a family life

sweet and pure, surrounded by a family which could not help

becoming serviceable to its country, reared in such an atmosphere,

he continued to be scholarly and patriotic, and when he died he

left a life unspoiled and untainted, a reputation too large for this

beautiful city of Fremont, as large and wide as the nation which

he served.

The important thing, however, for us who are here today

is the example for our own lives which lies in this life which is

under review and discussion. Our words can add little to the his-

toric place which he has achieved in our country's annals, but

whether or not his life will achieve the highest good of which it

is capable depends upon whether you and I, and others who may

be now the citizens of the United States, who bear its burdens

and its responsibilities, whose quality determines the quality of

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454      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

our present day institutions, imitate his virtue and follow his

example.

The times have greatly changed since the Presidency of Mr.

Hayes. Great as our country then seemed, it is now incomparably

greater; its territory has been increased, its population has grown

enormously; its influence as a world power is now like the influ-

ence of Great Britain, in that it follows the rising sun around the

globe. In the meantime, the industrial processes by which the

life of the community is sustained are made more intricate. We

have emerged from a rural civilization into a machine age. Our

commerce and our industry are much more intense. The con-

gestion of our population in great cities and manufacturing places

presents new problems. The challenge of this day is as great as

the challenge of his day, and the need for patriots and wise men

is as great now as when President Hayes made his contribution

of service to our country. The question we must ask, therefore,

is, are we doing as he did? Are we offering ourselves for Amer-

ica as he offered himself? Are we addressing ourselves to the

solution of the problems of our day as he buckled on his sword

or took up the statesmen's pen for the solution of the problems

which his day presented? I shall not take any answer to these

questions. Each of us knows by searching his own mind how

far he is worthy to be in any such comparison. Each of us knows

whether he spends the larger part of his life fretting about little

things or whether he really passes them by and gives his mind to

the large issues of welfare and happiness for his country and his

fellow-countrymen. Each of us knows whether he is more inter-

ested by the hurried daily chronicle of small events which the

newspapers present or by serious study of history and politics, in

order to equip himself really to be a servant of the Republic. But,

I can, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, at least be grateful

with you that this splendid memorial has been erected here in

Fremont, and that this Grove is hereafter to be consecrated

ground, that the memory of the great service of President Hayes

and that this beautiful life will be perpetuated here, so that for

all time to come as the youth of this city see this place they will

have impressed upon their imagination and their memory the

• 54
 

Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.      455   life of the man who from youth to advanced years really served his fellowmen, and such a memory will undoubtedly be an inspira- tion to them to take a high view of the calling of citizenship and to prepare themselves by study and thought to render such service as is within their capacity and opportunity.     ADDRESS OF U. S. SENATOR POMERENE. United States Senator Pomerene spoke as follows: "I am glad to have the opportunity to come to the beautiful city of Fremont to pay a tribute of love and respect to the mem-

ory of President and Mrs. Hayes. They had such fine ideals, they were truly Christian in every thought and action. The world is the better for their having lived. President Hayes was a good lawyer, a brave soldier, a faithful Congressman, an efficient Governor, and a distinguished and capable President, but, he was more, he was a good man. Mrs. Hayes was a Christian wife and mother, both were devoted to their friends and es- pecially to those here in Fremont who knew them so long and well. I want to congratulate the people

of Fremont in their successful efforts in preserving Spiegel Grove for this community and for the country at large for all time to come. I congratulate them that they have in their midst Colonel and Mrs. Webb C. Hayes, who have done so much to preserve the works and memories of their father and mother. This home with its fond memories will be an object lesson to the boys and girls of this county and this state, they will have before them as an object lesson the lives of a man and woman, than whom, this state has produced none better or purer. As I look over the history of President Hayes, I feel that all his qualities, and there were many of them, his predominat- ing characteristic was his intense love for things American and

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456       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

as I think of Mrs. Hayes, I could hold her before the world as the

ideal wife and mother.

Fremont is a beautiful city of beautiful homes, no finer

people are found than reside within her limits, and they have

honored themselves by the opportunity they have taken to pre-

serve Spiegel Grove.

And I would be doing violence to my feelings if I did not

add a word of appreciation for Senator Dean, who gave his able

and enthusiastic support to the legislation necessary to secure

Spiegel Grove for the public."

 

 

LETTERS FROM ABSENTEES.

Former Lieutenant Governor Francis W. Treadway, one of

the trustees of the Society, then read the following telegram from

Senator Warren G. Harding; and also the following letters from

the Hon. Robert Lansing, Secretary of State; the Hon. A. D.

White, who was appointed Minister to Germany by President

Hayes; and the Hon. John W. Foster, who served as Minister

to Mexico during the Hayes administration, in those troublous

times with Diaz in Mexico, to which the strained relations with

Huerta found by President Wilson in 1913 form an almost exact

counterpart; and also a letter from United States Senator Nathan

Goff, who is the only surviving member of the Hayes administra-

tion, in which for a few months he served as Secretary of the

Navy.

 

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 29, 1916.

COL. WEBB C. HAYES,

Fremont, Ohio.

Let me emphasize my genuine regrets that I am not to add my

tribute to the memory of President Hayes at Tuesday's dedication of

the Memorial. The combined gentleness and dignity and courage and

strength made manifest in the splendid career of President Hayes,

builded a loving memorial in the hearts of his countrymen, which I trust

the Spiegel Grove Memorial fittingly typifies. It is good to dedicate the

Memorial on this day of reverent tribute to the Union defenders, so

many of whom he brilliantly led. It is also good to consecrate ourselves

anew to the preservation of the Great Heritage he and they bequeathed

to us.

W. G. HARDING.

• 56
 

Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.              457

 

WASHINGTON, May 24, 1916.

MY DEAR MR. HAYES:

I received the formal invitation from the Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society to attend the dedication of the Hayes Memorial

Library and Museum in Spiegel Grove, on Decoration Day, May 30th,

Mrs. Lansing and I both deeply regret our inability to attend the dedica-

tion, and if we had found it possible to do so, we would have been

especially gratified to be your guests on that occasion.

With our appreciation and thanks for your attractive invitation,

and our regret that we are unable to avail ourselves of it, I am,

Very sincerely yours,

ROBERT LANSING.

WEBB C. HAYES, ESQ.,

Fremont, Ohio.

 

 

 

 

ANDREW D. WHITE,

CORNELL UNIVERSITY,

ITHACA, N. Y.

WEBB C. HAYES, ESQ.,                             MAY 20, 1916.

Spiegel Grove,

Fremont, Ohio.

MY DEAR MR. HAYES:

Referring to your letter of May 18, it is a matter of real sorrow

with me that I have felt obliged to decline the kind invitation to the

opening of the Hayes Memorial Library and Museum. I can think of

nothing which I would be more glad to attend in the way of a celebration

of any sort than this tribute to your honored father, and that feeling is

increased by the fact that a few weeks ago I read his biography and was

greatly impressed by it. My opinion regarding him was already very

high, for I have regarded him ever since I came to know him as one

of the best and most able men I have ever met, one of the best prepared

for the highest public duties and who was faithful in the highest degree

in his discharge of them. This feeling was strengthened at various

times when I heard him deliver public addresses at Lake Mohonk,

Cleveland, and elsewhere, and when I read his biography, I became

convinced that no nobler and better fitted man had ever held the

presidency.

There is one saying of his that ought to be inscribed in letters of

gold: The last entry made in his diary before leaving for the war,

dated May 15, 1861: "Judge Mathews and I have agreed to go into the

service for the war, if possible into the same regiment. I spoke my

feelings to him which he said were also his, that this was a just and

necessary war, and that it demanded the whole power of the country,

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458        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

That I would prefer to go into it if I knew I was to die or be killed in

the course of it, than to live through and after it without taking any

part in it."

But, also, I am nearing my eighty-fourth birthday and am more and

more obliged to be careful, and on the date you name I have already an

engagement with a doctor which has with difficulty been put off once.

I should indeed feel it a duty to be present were the circumstances

otherwise and were my health stronger, for among all men whom I

have met, President Hayes was one of those who most impressed me

by the evident sincerity and nobility of his character and by all the

qualities which made him a great and true man. A recent reading of

his biography has also greatly impressed me as showing the development

of the characteristics which led so directly to the high place which he

deservedly holds in the annals of our country. I feel that as time goes

on his fellow citizens of all parties will recognize more and more his

great qualities and that these will emerge from the cloud of calumny

which beset him in such wise that his name and fame will be ever more

and more honored by the American people. I hope that some day not

distant it will be possible for me to make a pilgrimage of duty to this

well-deserved tribute to your father, and thank you in person for your

kind invitation.

With all good wishes that the commemoration to which you invite

me shall be worthy of the man to whom it is given, I remain,

Yours faithfully,

ANDREW D. WHITE.

 

 

 

 

1323 EIGHTEENTH STREET,

WASHINGTON, D. C.,

WEBB C. HAYES, ESQ.,                              MAY 22, 1916.

Fremont, Ohio.

My DEAR SIR:

I am in receipt of your letter of the 18th and the card, inviting

me to attend the dedication of the Memorial Library and Museum in

your father's old home on May 30th.

I should be greatly pleased to unite with his many friends and

admirers in honoring your father's memory in the permanent form

indicated, but of late my health has not been good and I am not able to

travel without serious inconvenience and I could not make the journey

without considerable risk.

I have always regarded your father as one of our most useful

public men, of clean life and unblemished personality, and have always

been proud of having served under him in an administration which was

an honor to our country. It is with sincere regret that I will not be

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.         459

 

able to render this further mark of my respect and friendship by attend-

ing the memorial services on the 30th instant.

Very truly,

JOHN W. FOSTER.

P. S.-I am sending a photograph as requested. I greatly enjoyed

reading Williams' excellent biography of your father.

 

 

 

"CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA.

June 1, 1916.

MY DEAR MR. HAYES:

I have been quite unwell lately which will account for my failure

to write you in reply to your kind favor of the 18th ult. As I did not

receive your invitation to be with you at Spiegel Grove on the 30th ult.,

until after that day was in the past, you will readily understand why

you did not hear from me, and also why I was not with you on the

occasion that would have afforded me great pleasure to have been a

participant in.

I very much regret this and trust that you will understand my

seeming indifference, which I beg to assure you was not intended.

With kindest regards,

Most truly yours,

NATHAN GOFF."

 

In addition to the letters already printed, letters and tele-

grams of appreciation and regret were received from Ex-Gover-

nors Judson Harmon and James M. Cox; Ex-Senator Burton,

Ex-Minister Horace N. Allen, Hon. John S. Clarke, U. S. District

Judge, Maj. Gen. H. L. Scott, Chief of Staff, U. S. A.; Lieut.

Gen. S. B. M. Young, U. S. A., Commander in Chief Loyal Le-

gion; Capt. John P. Nickelson, Recorder in Chief Loyal Legion;

Capt. E. A. Montfort, Commander in Chief G. A. R.; Maj.

Gen. George W. Goethals, U. S. A., Governor Canal Zone; Maj.

Gen. M. I. Luddington, U. S. A.; Brig. Gen. A. L. Mills, U. S.

A.; Col. H. O. S. Heistand, U. S. A.; Col. S. M. Foote, U. S. A.;

Rear Admiral Chas. E. Clark, U. S. N.; Rear Admiral Harry

Knox, U. S. N.; Gen. Robert P. Kennedy, Bishop Wm. A. Leo-

nard, the Mass. Historical Society, the New England Historic

Genealogical Society, the N. Y. Genealogical and Biographical

Society, the Penn. State Museum, the American Museum of

Natural History, the University of Toronto, the Worcester Poly-

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460      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   technic Institute, the Brooklyn Institute, the Missouri Historical Society, the Florida State Museum, the president of Tufts Col- lege, the National Society of D. A. R., etc.       ADDRESS OF CONGRESSMAN OVERMYER. Congressman A. W. Overmyer, of the 13th Ohio District who came from Washington, D. C., expressly to take part in the dedicatory exercises, then delivered

the following address: Fortunate indeed are all of us who have been permitted to witness this ceremony today. The occasion, the place, the day, the assemblage, all have been appropriate. The occasion is appropriate, for we meet to dedicate this splendid me- morial, erected by the great common- wealth of Ohio, to one of its most illustrious sons. The place is appro- priate for here are the hallowed scenes amid which Hayes spent so much of his mature life which was not

devoted to the public service of his country. The day is appropriate for on this Memorial Day there is no more fitting service that could have been performed than to meet here and recount the deeds and review the life work of one of America's bravest soldiers and one of her most loyal de- fenders, a soldier who had the courage to fight and the ability to lead others in fighting. The assemblage is appropriate and such as eminently benefits the occasion, for the President is represented here by a member of his cabinet, an Ohio man; the Senate and House of Representatives are represented here, and representatives of the civil and military authority of the state, the county, and the city; and the people to whom he ever turned a listening ear- the people are here, in masses such as seldom before assembled within the shadows of Spiegel Grove; they are here to bring

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.         461

 

their own heartfelt testimony to the occasion; they are here

representing all shades of religious and political belief, all ages

and conditions of life, all are here as Americans and come to this

historic and sacred spot to fraternize with each other in a fresh

act of homage to the memory of Rutherford B. Hayes.

Many who are here in this audience knew       President

Hayes and his devoted wife while they were living, knew them as

neighbors, as friends, as members of the same church. To such

this must be a wonderful day.

I shall always cherish the memory that, as a young boy, I

heard President Hayes deliver an address at a Croghan Day

celebration from the old bandstand in the county park before

the Court House. I can see him now as I saw him then, a noble-

looking man with a kindly face, snow-white beard and hair, but

with the vigor of young manhood in his heart.

I do not know what phase of the life of Rutherford B.

Hayes appeals to the people the most; but after having read

the splendid biography of President Hayes written by the orator

of the day, Doctor Williams, I will say without hesitation that

the impression I shall hereafter always carry of him will not

be his military service, valiant and glorious as that was, nor his

services as Governor and President, valuable and statesmanlike

as they were, but it will be of Rutherford B. Hayes as a man, a

superb, unselfish, warm and Christian hearted man whose pure

heart went out in sympathy to all mankind and was wholly in-

capable of a selfish or unworthy thought.

As a husband, as a father, as a citizen and neighbor and

friend, Rutherford B. Hayes has left to future generations his

richest heritage. Never seeking public honors, he had them thrust

upon him; yearning, as he continually did for the peace and com-

fort of a quiet home life, he was called again and again to per-

form high public service, to assume the highest positions of

responsibility and trust. This is the stamp of true greatness.

Washington had the same modesty and so did Lincoln, and in

the love of his fellow-man, in patriotism, in purity of heart and

unselfishness, Hayes was as great as either of them.

I feel honored in having been permitted to be present at

these ceremonies. Through the ages this beautiful memorial

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462      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. will stand as the testimonial of a grateful people to the life and services of a truly beloved man. To this building and the beauti- ful grove surrounding it will come generations of American citi- zens, our children, grandchildren, and their descendants, and draw an inspiration to a life of unselfishness and honor as they become more and more familiar with the life and character of Ruther- ford Birchard Hayes, that crowned and glorious life.       ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN ALEXIS COPE. Captain Alexis Cope representing the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and also the associate of General Hayes on the Board of the Ohio State University, spoke as follows:   President Wright, Members of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: It was only yesterday that I received a telegram from Colo- nel Webb Hayes informing me that I would be expected to

speak for the Loyal Legion on this occasion, so what I shall say has come to me in the few moments of reflection I have had since then, and shall be brief. Indeed the eloquent and scholarly address we have just heard from the lips of his distin- guished biographer, Mr. Williams, has left his followers on the program little to say. All the high and shin- ing points of President Hayes' great career, have been   touched  by a master hand. I congratulate him on his noble address. I also congratu- late him on his biography of Presi-

dent Hayes, in which he has given to the world in simple and most attractive style the true story of his life and public ser- vices.

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.         463

 

I share the regret that every one present must feel that

General Young, who was to speak for the Loyal Legion, is not

here. If he were present, he could speak for it more fittingly

than I can, for he is its present Commander in Chief, and besides

being a good soldier, is an eloquent speaker.

President Hayes was a charter member of the Ohio Com-

mandery of the Loyal Legion, was elected its first Commander,

and was re-elected four times in succession, serving from 1883

to 1887 inclusive. I recall with gratification and pride that when

I presented myself as a candidate for membership in the order,

it was President Hayes who administered the obligation. He

was Commander in Chief of the National Commandery at the

time of his death.

The fundamental principles of this organization are:

"FIRST: A firm belief and trust in Almighty God, exalt-

ing Him, under whose beneficent guidance the Sovereignty and

integrity of the Union have been maintained, the honor of the

flag vindicated and the blessings of the liberty secured, estab-

lished and enlarged.

"SECOND: True allegiance to the United States of Amer-

ica, based upon paramount respect for, and fidelity to the

National Constitution and laws, manifested by discountenancing

whatever may tend to weaken loyalty, incite to insurrection,

treason or rebellion, or impair in any manner the efficiency and

permanency of our free institutions."

Its objects are:

"To cherish the memories and associations of the war waged

in defense of the unity and indivisibility of the republic;

strengthen the ties of fraternal fellowship and sympathy formed

by Companions in Arms; advance the best interests of the sol-

diers and sailors of the United States, especially of those asso-

ciated as Companions of the Order, and extend all possible re-

lief to their widows and children; foster the cultivation of mili-

tary and naval science; enforce unqualified allegiance to the Gen-

eral Government; protect the rights and liberties of American

Citizenship, and maintain National Honor, Union and Independ-

ence."

President Hayes was loyal to these principles and labored

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464      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

faithfully for these objects. When he died, a Committee of the

Ohio Commandery, of which William McKinley was chairman,

said of him: "The country has lost one of its great Statesmen

and one of its most noble defenders. His old army comrades

have lost a brave commander, an honorable associate and a wise

counsellor, the Loyal Legion one of its most devoted and be-

loved companions."

My duty, as prescribed by the program might perhaps prop-

erly end here, but I can not forbear some remarks of a remin-

iscent character.

President Hayes had a passion for taking up problems left

unsolved or tasks left unfinished by his predecessors. A nota-

ble instance of this was the completion of the Washington Monu-

ment in our National Capital, the story of which I had from his

own lips. It had been begun away back in the forties and had

reached a height of about one hundred and forty feet, when it

was found that the foundations were not strong enough to sup-

port any further weight. Work on it had been abandoned and

it had stood in this unfinished condition for a generation. When

Hayes became President he called together a board of army en-

gineers, who under his direction devised plans for its comple-

tion. He obtained from Congress the necessary appropriations,

and took a personal interest in the progress of the work. It

was found necessary to put a new foundation under the unfin-

ished portion of the structure, and in order to do this, it had

literally to be suspended in air while the work was being done.

While it was so suspended, the President and Mrs. Hayes, who

also took a great interest in the work, more than once walked

underneath it. The President related that the engineers had

placed in the excavation an instrument designed to detect and

record any movement of the suspended mass. A pencil on a

sheet of white paper automatically recorded any movement

which occurred day or night.

One morning the engineers were startled to see that the

instrument during the night before had recorded some very un-

usual movements or vibrations. They first thought there had

been an earthquake, but inquiry at the Naval Observatory

brought the report that no seismic disturbance had been recorded

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        465

 

on the instrument there, and they were at a loss to account for

it. Finally, one of the engineers climbed to the top of the sus-

pended column and found a small owl caught by its foot be-

tween the slats of a window, and that its fluttering struggles to

escape had caused all the trouble. The little disturber was caught

and presented to Mrs. Hayes, who had it mounted and preserved.

It was brought to Fremont and placed above the clock in the hall

of their home, where it still remains. (I think it should be in

the museum.)

When President Hayes became Governor of Ohio, he found

that in 1862, Congress had passed an act making large grants

of land, or land scrip, to the several states for the endowment

and maintenance of a college in each state for the primary pur-

pose of teaching the branches of learning related to Agriculture

and the Mechanic Arts and Military Tactics without excluding

other branches of a liberal education. The Legislature had ac-

cepted the grant to Ohio of 630,000 acres of land scrip, and it

had been improvidently sold at a lamentable sacrifice, realizing

only about $340,000. Owing to local jealousies and the oppo-

sition of the numerous existing colleges nothing had been done

towards creating and locating a college to be endowed by the

grant. A strong sentiment favored the division of the fund

among several existing colleges, but Governor Hayes gave his

voice in favor of one college, centrally located, which should re-

ceive the entire grant, and aided in clearing the way for such

an institution.

The necessary legislation was provided by the act of March

20, 1870, during his second administration as Governor, and

under this act the institution now known as the Ohio State Uni-

versity was organized and located. He appointed its first board

of trustees, which held its first meeting in his office and was

wisely guided by him in its deliberations. He favored its lo-

cation at Columbus, and largely through his influence it acquired

the large tract of valuable land which is now its spacious campus.

In 1887, after having been Governor and President, on the re-

quest of the University authorities, he accepted a place on its

board of trustees.

At that time the institution had made slow progress. It

Vol. XXV- 30

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466      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

had encountered violent opposition from the other colleges of

the State, and from the agricultural classes, and such opposition

still to a large extent prevailed. The legislature had refused to

make adequate appropriations for its support, and for needed

buildings, and it had an enrollment of only about 300 students.

President Hayes at once took an active part in quieting the op-

position to the institution. He was by nature a harmonizer, and

largely through his influence the agricultural classes were won

to its support and the opposition of the other colleges to a large

extent removed. He attended regularly the meetings of the

trustees, appeared before committees of the legislature in ad-

vocacy of needed appropriations for buildings and equipment,

and for an annual state levy sufficient for its maintenance and

to meet its growing needs. These were all provided during his

nearly six years of service as trustee, and largely through his

influence. He saw the enrollment rise from 300 to over 800 stu-

dents, and was assured that its future was secure. Could he

have lived to this day he would have seen an enrollment of

nearly 5000 students, and a graduating class of 900 students

which next week will receive their degrees, and the University

which he labored to establish and so wisely and faithfully ser-

ved taking rank among the foremost educational institutions of

the land.

President Hayes was an advocate of industrial education

and it was mainly through his influence that a department of

manual training was instituted at the University. On the invita-

tion of the legislature he made an address on this subject to the

two houses in joint session, which was so convincing that funds

were provided for a building for manual training at the Univer-

sity which bears the name "Hayes Hall." He saw this building

completed and properly equipped and was eagerly seeking for

a proper person to take charge of the work, when he was stricken

with the illness which resulted in his death. He attended meet-

ings of the Board of Trustees, of which he was then President,

January 11th and 12th, 1893, and in the afternoon of the 12th

left for Cleveland to see a gentleman who had been recom-

mended as a suitable person to take charge of the department

which was to begin its work in Hayes Hall. It was while return-

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.          467

 

ing to his home from this, his last public service, that he was

fatally stricken.

It was during his service as trustee of the University, that

I first came to really know President Hayes. I had often met

him in his political campaigns, and during most of the period

from November, 1876 to March 2, 1877, as occupant of a minor

office in the Capitol at Columbus, I had seen him almost daily.

I had marked with increasing admiration and respect his re-

markable self-poise during the great and bitter conflict over his

election as President, and was one of the great crowd which

followed him to the railroad station on his way to Washington

to be inaugurated as President, or to congratulate his competitor.

if the Electoral Commission should decide in his favor, and

heard the wonderfully eloquent and impressive speech he made

from the end of the train before it moved out.

But as secretary of the board of trustees of the University

I was thrown into closer relations with him and he soon honored

me with his friendship and confidence. He grew constantly in

my estimation. There were no defects in his character, no weak-

ness, no loss of that noble dignity, which "gives the world assur-

ance of a man." At the same time he was gentle, simple in

manner, approachable and kindly to every one. One of his asso-

ciates on the University board described him as "unassuming in

manners, polite, studious, scholarly, accomplished, and made all

who knew him his friends."

 

"His was no mountain peak of mind,

Thrusting to thin air o'er our cloudy bars,-

A sea-mark now, now lost in vapors blind;

Broad prairie, rather, genial, level lined.

Fruitful and friendly for all human kind,

But also nigh to heaven and loved of loftiest stars."

 

No great one in our history began life with higher ideals and

maintained them more steadfastly through all the vicissitudes of

a great career. Mr. Williams in his biography gives us this re-

markable passage from his diary, written when he was only

nineteen years old and had just entered the senior class at

Kenyon College.

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468      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

"I have never desired other than honorable distinction-

The reputation that I desire is not that momentary eminence

which is gained without merit and lost without regret. Give me

the popularity which runs after, not that which is sought for. For

honest merit to succeed amid the tricks and intrigues which are

now so lamentably common, I know is difficult, but the honor of

success is increased by the obstacles which are to be surmounted.

Let me triumph as a man or not at all." Other extracts from his

diaries show that he was actuated through life by the same high

thoughts and noble purposes. After reading and reflecting upon

them one does not wonder that he reached the summit of worldly

station.

There was nothing meteoric in his rise. His calm star

climbed with steadfast purpose and steady radiance, until it

reached its assured place in the galaxy of our great ones. The

clouds of obloquy which for a time obscured it have passed away

and it now shines with increasing luster.

It is a source of unavailing regret that President Hayes died

so soon. The party rancor which followed his election, was fast

disappearing, his courageous efforts for a reform of the civil

service and his wise Southern policy, which had so embittered his

political associates, were being justified by their results, and the

people were everywhere turning to him with increasing rever-

ence and respect. A few more years of life would have enabled

him to enjoy the triumph which, though often long delayed, surely

comes to him who, with firmness for the right, fearlessly follows

the high stern path of duty.

Mr. President Wright and you, honorable trustees of the

Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society, for the Loyal Legion,

and for the Ohio State University, (for which I have assumed to

speak), I congratulate you and our friend Colonel Webb Hayes

on the consummation of your labors, whereby this beautiful

Spiegel Grove and the stately mansion where President Hayes

lived and died, have been dedicated to the public, and have be-

come the property of the state. I also congratulate you on the

completion of the noble museum in which are stored the relics

of our beloved President. I also congratulate Colonel Hayes

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Dedication of the Haycs Memorial.        469   on his generous endowment, which assures that the whole shall be properly cared for forever. It needs no prophetic vision to foresee that year after year the people of Ohio and of the Nation will come in increasing numbers, as to a shrine, to pay their tribute of reverence and affection for "the simple great one gone" and his beloved wife, who sleep side by side under yonder monument. From this shrine will constantly go forth an inspiring influence which will help towards preserving our faith in our free institutions and our love for our dear country, which makes such a career as that of Presi- dent Hayes possible. Former Governor James E. Campbell spoke as follows:     ADDRESS OF FORMER GOVERNOR CAMPBELL. My Fellow Citizens: It is with great pleasure that I render my tribute to this beautiful Memorial and to the great character whose memory it so fittingly pre-

serves.  I shall speak to-day briefly of Rutherford B. Hayes as Governor of Ohio. His administration was one full of glory and beneficence to the State. His faithful service left monu- ments to his statesmanship that will live as long as Ohio.   They were deeds, not of military nor of political glory, but for the elevation of hu- manity. It was through his influence as Governor that the Geological Sur- vey was revived and placed in the sub- stantial position it now holds as one of the most useful branches of the

State's service. To him can be credited the establishment of the Soldiers' Home. He enlarged the field of the State Board of Charities. This was a subject always dear to his heart, and after his term of office was ended he served many years as a member of that body. Governor Hayes always had the welfare of the State's un-

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470      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

fortunate in view, and it was through his suggestion and influ-

ence that increased provisions were made for the insane; that the

graded system was introduced into the penitentiary, and that

many other prison reforms were instituted.

Among the most important acts of this humanitarian states-

man was the founding of the Reform School for Girls at Dela-

ware.

To him more than any one man in Ohio can be credited

the promotion and success of the Agricultural and Mechanical

College now the Ohio State University. He appointed the first

Board of Trustees of this institution and in its initial stages he

gave to it his wisest and best services. All his life, after he ceased

to be Governor, he watched with solicitous interest the welfare of

the University and no public duty was assumed with more en-

thusiasm than his entrance into the Board of Trustees.

He was always a student of history and a natural collector,

as the Treasures of this Memorial Building will show. It was

this instinct which prompted him to urge the purchase by the

State of the valuable St. Clair Papers; it was through his influ-

ence that they were preserved in the State Library and subse-

quently published.

In these few words I have referred to General Hayes' record

as Governor because others have given you his full length por-

trait as a national figure. But the people of his native State have

received from his life the heritage of service that comes close to

home to them. They can see the results of his life upon their

lives daily. He has indelibly impressed upon the history of Ohio

some of the most important acts and institutions of her existence.

These imprints were deeds of humanity and are helping every

day to uplift the humble and to comfort the unfortunate.

 

 

ADDRESS OF BASIL MEEK.

Basil Meek, representing the Sandusky County Bar associa-

tion, and chairman of the local committee of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, offered the following

tribute :

Rutherford B. Hayes was, from 1845 to 1849, an active

member of what has been known as the Pioneer Bar of Sandusky

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        471

 

County, so called because existing prior to the adoption of the

Ohio State Constitution of 1851, and was associated in practice

with the earlier men of that galaxy of able lawyers of this bar,

among whom may be mentioned Dickinson, Otis, Bartlett, Greene,

Watson, Pettibone, Everett, Haynes, Buckland, Glick and Fine-

frock. This Bar was composed of men prominent, not only in

the legal profession, but also in public official stations filled by

the members thereof. From its members were nine State Legis-

lators, five members of Congress, six Judges of Courts, two Gov-

ernors, one of Ohio, and the other of Kansas, two Generals in

the Union Army and a President of the United States.

Rutherford B. Hayes, after a thorough course at Kenyon

College, from which he graduated with honor, commenced the

study of law with Thomas Sparrow of Columbus, Ohio, and

afterwards entered Harvard Law School and in 1845 completed

the law course there, and having been admitted to the bar at

Marietta, March 10, 1845, commenced the practice of law in

Lower Sandusky (Fremont), where in April, 1846, he formed a

law partnership with Ralph P. Buckland, which continued until

1849, when Mr. Hayes located in Cincinnati, Ohio, where by his

marked ability, he soon attracted attention, as a lawyer taking

rank among the prominent members of the profession there.

among whom were such men as Salmon P. Chase, Caleb B.

Smith, Alphonso Taft, Bellamy Storer, George H. Pendleton

and George E. Pugh.

He was City Solicitor, an important legal position in a city

like Cincinnati, from  December, 1858, to April, 1861. The

salary was $3500.00 per year.

He was ambitious to excel in the profession, as we learn from

himself for, in 1859 while in active practice in Cincinnati, in his

Diary, which he habitually kept, he writes: "Let me awake to

my old ambition to excel as a lawyer-as an advocate." And

later he writes, "Without any extraordinary success, I have never-

theless found what I have sought, a respectable place," thus

modestly assuming that he had reached his desired goal.

It was this ambition, which prompted his location in Cin-

cinnati,-which city necessarily offered a wider arena for activity

and experience in the practice, and consequent enlargement of

his powers, than did Lower Sandusky in that day.

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472      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        473

 

In the midst of his growing and successful practice in Cin-

cinnati, the War for the Union broke out. He immediately re-

sponded to his country's call and joined the army for the Union,

which necessarily caused an abandonment of his practice and

subsequent events in his public career made the abandonment

permanent; and, though not having resumed the practice, since

giving it up to enter the service of his country as a soldier, fol-

lowed by his public official duties, as Congressman, Governor and

President, he was, nevertheless ever a lover of the theory of

the law in which he was profoundly versed, and would meet

with our Bar Association after his final return to Fremont

and occasionally would be seen in the court room, when court

would be in session, thereby manifesting a lingering fondness for

the scene of his early forensic contests in the courts of Sandusky

County; and when his early friend, college mate and army com-

rade, Stanley Matthews, died at Cincinnati, in 1889, at his re-

quest a meeting of this Bar was called to pay tribute to the

memory of the deceased, who in 1845, was on the recommenda-

tion of Mr. Hayes as chairman of the examining committee on

Mr. Matthews' application for admission, admitted to The San-

dusky County Bar, and who had always been regarded by this

Bar as an honorary member.

It is an interesting fact that after the lapse of a third of a

century, from the admission to the Bar of Mr. Matthews on the

recommendation of Mr. Hayes it was the pleasure of the latter,

as president of the United States to nominate the former to the

Senate of the United States for confirmation as a Justice of the

United States Supreme Court.

Harvard Law School, had among its faculty, while Mr.

Hayes was a student there, those eminent professors, Joseph

Story and Simon Greenleaf, whose names as authors of legal

text books, are household words among lawyers.  Their high

ideals of the dignity of the legal profession and the principles

which should govern lawyers in its practice, as expressed by

them to their students, evidently appealed to him, and found in

his own characteristic high sense of justice and right moral

action, a ready response, for, in his Diary referred to, he makes

frequent entries, quoting from their words-among which is

the following from Greenleaf: "A lawyer is engaged in the high-

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474      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

est of all human pursuits-the application of the soundest rea-

son and purest morality to the ordinary affairs of life. He

should have a clear head and a true heart". Mr. Hayes pos-

sessed both of these essential qualifications, a clear head and a

true heart in high degrees, and adhering in practice to the ideals

held by his distinguished professors and believed in himself, he

won the admiration and high esteem of his brethren of the bar,

both of the County of Sandusky and City of Cincinnati and in-

deed of the legal profession throughout the State and Nation.

The Rev. E. M. O'Hare, Rector of St. Ann's church closed

the program by delivering the following prayer:

O Lord God of nations, bless our country and its people,

so that by due respect for virtue and religion, by prompt obedi-

ence to laws, by a proper regard for justice and mercy, they

tend to the promotion of peace and national happiness; that in-

creasing in industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge they may

secure to themselves blessing of equal liberty. O Almighty Lord

from whom all authority is derived we humbly beseech Thee to

bless our Chief Executive, the President of these United States

and the officers associated with him, confirming them in the

right understanding of their weighty office, as also in courage

and prudence for the execution thereof, that they may secure

us in honorable peace and plenty.

Look down, O Lord, in kindly care, upon those, who, com-

posing our Army and Navy, are engaged in upholding the honor

and safety of their fellow citizens. Extend Thy benevolence to

these old warriors who have so nobly defended their country

and are now awaiting the last bugle call. We pray Thee to bless

his Excellency, the Governor of this State and all State and

Municipal officers, who assist him to guard our political welfare,

that they may be able to discharge the duties of their respective

offices with honesty and ability.

A benediction upon the memory of the gentle President,

whose remains rest in these historic grounds, as well as upon the

noble Christian woman, his faithful spouse.

Finally O God, may Thy benediction rest upon all here,

and especially upon those who are preserving to future genera-

tions the memorials of past achievements, as a heritage of honor,

patriotism and virtue. Amen.

• 74
 

Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.       475       THE MEMORIAL BUILDING. The Memorial Building a beautiful structure of classic archi- tecture, stands among the great trees to the north of the Hayes Residence, facing the entrance from Hayes Avenue. It is of light grey Ohio sandstone, from the Amherst quarries, and of ample proportions. Broad steps, between bronze pedestals bearing orna- mental lights, lead up to the pillared portico and great bronze doors. Upon entering the building the first thing that catches

the eye is the portrait of General Hayes painted by Carl Rake- mann, representing him at the age of 70; while the Huntington portrait painted for the White House, and copied by Rakemann, represents him at 60, and the Andrews portrait in the east library shows him at 40, in the uniform of a Brevet Major General of Volunteers. Thus standing in the center of the rotunda, one can see lifelike portraits of General Hayes at 40, 60 and 70 years of age. Over the portrait in the rotunda is the Hayes coat-of-

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476      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

arms from his Scottish ancestors, a falcon lighting on a rock,

which bears the inscription Recte. At the left of the portrait and

coat-of-arms, clustered in groups of three, are the flags of the

thirteen original Colonies, together with the State flags of Ver-

mont, Kentucky and Ohio, sixteen in all. The center of each

cluster is the flag of the United States, the stars of which show

the growth of the nation. In the cluster between the flags of

Delaware and Pennsylvania, the first of the Colonies to ratify

the Constitution, is the national flag adopted in 1777, 13 stripes

with 13 stars arranged in a circle. In the second cluster, between

the Colonial flags of New Jersey and Georgia, the third and

fourth States, is the flag adopted in 1795, of 15 stars and 15

stripes, two States having been admitted to the Union. In the

third cluster between Connecticut and Massachusetts, the national

flag has 13 stripes and 20 stars, five additional States having

been admitted in the interim, Congress providing in 1818 that

thereafter on the ₄th of July, following the admission of a new

State the national colors should consist of the original 13 stripes

with a star for each State of the Union. The 8th and last cluster

consists of the flags of Kentucky and Ohio, with the national

emblem of 13 stripes and 48 stars, the Union as it is today. The

three States whose flags have been added to the Colonial States

are very appropriately Vermont, from which State Rutherford

Hayes, the father, migrated to Ohio; Kentucky, the State from

which James Webb, the father of Mrs. Hayes, migrated to Ohio,

and Ohio the native State of the President and Mrs. Hayes.

Over the main entrance are the royal standards of the

countries which claimed possession of this territory prior to the

War of the Revolution, the royal standard of Spain, 1492-1670;

the royal standard of France, 1670-1760; and the royal standard

of Great Britain, 1760-1796, Great Britain still retaining until

1796 the actual possession of the military post at Detroit and its

sub-post on the Sandusky, at what is now known as Fort Stephen-

son in the center of Fremont, notwithstanding the treaty of

peace made in 1783 some thirteen years earlier.

Over the door leading to the east library is the flag of the

Governor of Ohio, General Hayes being the only Governor who

was thrice elected; while over the door which leads to the west

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Dedication of the Haves Memorial.         477 library is the flag of the President of the United States, General Hayes being the 19th President, from 1877-1881. In the center of the floor space is an interesting relic of the battleship Maine- her bronze hand-steering gear, covered with barnacles and colored by sea water, which makes a handsome receptacle for a stately fern. The rotunda is illuminated by frosted glass bulbs. In the

windows opposite the main entrance are handsome colored transparencies of the State House at Columbus, the Gov- ernor's corner of the State House, with the statue called "Ohio's Jewels" full length bronze figures of Generals Grant, Sherman and Sheridan; Chief Justice Chase, Secretary of War Stanton, and Presidents Hayes and Garfield; the north

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478      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

and south fronts of the White House at Washington; the

east and west fronts of the national capital; the inauguration

ceremonies of President Hayes in 1877, and his retirement on the

inauguration of President Garfield in 1881. Opposite the entrance

stands one of the Hayes ancestral clocks, a real grandfather's

clock, which was loaded into the family wagon when the parents

of President Hayes prepared to leave West Dummerston, Ver-

mont, for the forty-day journey to the new State of Ohio, in 1817.

The clock was so long that the tail board of the wagon could

not be put in place, so that temporarily the clock was left with

relatives in Vermont. On one side of the clock is a beautiful

rosewood folding secretary, purchased for Lincoln and used in

the cabinet room of the White House during the succeeding ad-

ministrations of Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleve-

land, Harrison, Cleveland and McKinley. It was sold with many

other interesting articles when the White House was renovated

in the early days of Roosevelt. This secretary and the office

chair were used by Colonel Hayes when a lad, as his father's

personal secretary, who purchased a chair to replace it when

leaving Washington. Another chair is a revolving chair used

by President Hayes when Governor of Ohio. The only chairs in

the east and west libraries were the ones used by President Grant,

President-elect Hayes, Chief Justice Waite and the Sergeant-at-

Arms of the U. S. Senate, during the inauguration of President

Hayes, on the east front of the Capitol, ₅th March, 1877.

On entering the west library one sees the beautiful full

length portraits of the President and Mrs. Hayes, painted for

the White House by Daniel Huntington, and copied by permis-

sion of President Wilson, by Carl Rakemann of Washington.

The magnificent library of Americana of President Hayes, the

largest owned by a private citizen at the time of his death in

1893, is stored in the east and west libraries in steel cases. In

the four corners of the west library are shown on figures, the

wedding dress, slippers, etc., of Lucy Ware Webb, when she

was married to Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 30th December,

1852, at Cincinnati, Ohio. The three remaining cases contain

dresses and wraps worn by her in the White House. The north

windows contain portraits of Sardis Birchard, the uncle of Presi-

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.         479

 

dent Hayes, who built the residence at Spiegel Grove for him

prior to the War for the Union, and portraits in uniform on

either side of Brevet Major-General Rutherford B. Hayes and

Brevet Major-General Ralph P. Buckland who were law part-

ners at Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, from General Hayes's

admission to the bar in 1845 until he removed to Cincinnati in

1849. The opposite window contains colored portraits of Ro-

dolphus Dickinson, the first Congressman from this town,

flanked on either side by portraits in uniform of Major-General

Harrison and Commodore Perry, the heroes of 1812. On the

upper windows are transparencies of "Old Whitey," the only

surviving war horse General Hayes brought home from the War

for the Union; and of Black Yauco, the fine coal-black war

horse of Colonel Hayes which still survives, a veteran of the

campaigns of Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines. This

horse has since been ridden only by Colonel Hayes at the second

inauguration and at the funeral obsequies of President McKinley

in 1901 and by Midshipman Hayes at the inauguration of Presi-

dent Taft in 1909.

In both the east and west libraries are two large mahogany

show cases for exhibition purposes, and in the middle of each

room is a beautiful mahogany table from Belgium, secured by

Colonel and Mrs. Hayes at Rotterdam in the early days of the

great European War. In the west library, one of the large cases

contains many of the personal pieces of wearing apparel worn

by Mrs. Hayes at the White House, and others covering the

period from her babyhood to her last public appearance at the

Centennial of the inauguration of George Washington in New

York in April, 1889. In the other case are the diplomas and

commissions issued to President Hayes during the last fifty

years of his life, beginning with his degree of B. A., at Kenyon

College, in 1842; B. L. at Harvard Law School, in 1845, two

commissions as City Solicitor of Cincinnati before the war; his

military commission as Major, Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel,

Brigadier General and Brevet Major-General U. S. Volunteers;

two commissions as Representative in Congress from the Cin-

cinnati District, three commissions of Governor of Ohio, and the

certificate of his election as President of the United States from

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480      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

1877 to 1881. Also the honorary degree of LL.D., from Ken-

yon, Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins. There are also the

diplomas of Lucy Ware Webb from the Wesleyan Female Semi-

nary of Cincinnati in 1850, together with her valedictory ad-

dress and the original manuscripts of several essays written by

her before her graduation.

In the east library are the full length portraits by Andrews

of Mrs. Hayes and of General Hayes in the uniform of a Brevet

Major-General. There is also a duplicate of the Belgium ma-

hogany table and of the two large mahogany show cases, one of

which contains a large collection of autograph letters of promin-

ent statesmen, soldiers, authors, poets, editors and philanthrop-

ists. This room like the other is lined with cases filled with li-

brary of Americana. Of the four large corner cases, one con-

tains on mounted forms the uniform coat worn by Lieutenant

Colonel Hayes when so severely wounded at the Battle of South

Mountain, in the Antietam campaign, September 14-18, 1862.

The coat was cut from his body, and it was many months before

he recovered from this, the most severe of his six wounds re-

ceived in battle. Although thirteen presidents of the United

States have been soldiers in war, none other save only James

Monroe was wounded in battle, he having been slightly wounded

at the Battle of Princeton in 1777. The general officer's coat

and also the highly prized Brigadier General's shoulder straps,

given him by his immediate commander, Major-General George

Crook, the famous Indian fighter and hunter, at the close of the

Shenandoah Valley campaign in 1864, are also in this case.

One of the other corner cases contains the dress and uni-

form worn by Fanny Hayes, aged ten, and Scott, aged seven,

at a Martha Washington children's dress ball, given at the White

House.   The other cases contain uniforms worn at many in-

augurations and funerals of presidents, during the National ad-

ministrations from Hayes to Taft, inclusive.

Immediately over the portraits is the regimental flag pre-

sented by Mrs. Hayes to the 23rd Ohio on her husband's pro-

motion out of the regiment, and returned to her when the regi-

ment was mustered out in 1865. General Hayes' brigade head-

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.        481

 

quarters flag and division headquarters flag are enclosed in glass

cases on either side of the portraits.

The illuminated portraits on the windows in this room show

the patriotic citizenship of Sandusky County, and the military

heroes whose names are household words. Major George Crog-

han, the gallant defender of Fort Stephenson, against the British

and Indians, Aug. 2d, 1813, who was promoted and presented

with a gold medal and each of his officers with a sword by the

United States for gallantry in the defence of Fort Stephenson;

Lieutenant Colonel John C. Fremont, the Pathfinder and explorer,

after whom the town was named when changed from Lower

Sandusky in 1849; and the local representatives in each of

the wars since the Declaration of Independence, viz.: Private

James Webb, aged 18, father of Lucy Webb Hayes, who served

here in Captain Garrard's company, Kentucky Mounted Riflemen,

in the second war with Great Britain; Captain Samuel Thompson,

who was wounded at Lundy's Lane, Canada, in the War of 1812

and led a company from Sandusky County in the war with

Mexico, 1846-48; Major General James B. McPherson, the officer

highest in rank and command killed in battle during the War

for the Union; Sailor George B. Meek, the first American killed

in the War with Spain, 1898-9. The last three are buried in

this county.

Two illuminated windows, high up, portray the Filipino pony

"Piddig," ridden by Colonel Hayes at the relief of Vigan, Nor-

thern Luzon, P. I., when he won his Congressional medal of

honor; and his horse, Trooper, which he rode in the relief of

Peking.

The Museum on the lower floor of the Memorial Building is

an exact counterpart of the main rotunda and library. The mu-

seum rotunda contains a complete collection of specimens of

bronze and brass field guns, captured in each of the wars in which

the United States has been engaged, including the War for Inde-

pendence. The first is a bronze cannon which contains the British

coat-of-arms and King George's royal cipher, with the inscription

engraved on it by direction of Gen. Benedict Arnold before his

treachery: "Taken at the storm of the British lines, near Sara-

toga, Oct. 7, 1777, by -    " with the name, Benedict Arnold

Vol. XXV-31

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482      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

erased, as it was from all trophies by direction of the Continental

Congress. A bronze coehorn mortar, with the British coat-of-

arms and King George's royal cipher is the trophy captured dur-

ing the second war with Great Britain, 1812. A small bronze

cannon, inscribed "San Juan" was captured in the War with

Mexico, 1846-48. This was one of the four bronze guns, the

Four Apostles, presented by the king and queen of Spain to-

in----, which were used after the conquest of Mexico. The

other three guns, St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. Luke, are now

on exhibition at West Point and the War Department in Washing-

ton. The guns of the Apostles' Battery were used when Texas de-

clared her independence from Mexico and were captured later

during the war with Mexico. A brass, six-pound gun inscribed

"Louisiana" was captured during the War for the Union, 1861-65.

A single-barreled and a double-barreled bronze, swivel lantaka

was taken by Magellan to the Philippine Islands after his dis-

covery of the Straits of Magellan, and was taken from the Span-

iards by the savage Moros of Mindanao, P. I. The double-bar-

reled gun was presented by Datto Piang of Reina Regenta, Mind-

anao, on the visit of the first American troops under Colonel

Hayes to that fort in the winter of 1899-1900. The last, and

probably most interesting, is a bronze cannon with numerous

Manchu hieroglyphics, one of three guns brought by Colonel

Hayes to America, which had been used in firing on the legations

and on the relief column, from Hata gate, leading into the Tartar

City from the Chinese city of Peking, in 1900.

The family barouche, purchased by President Hayes in

March, 1877, and used as the President's carriage during the ad-

ministration of President Hayes and the brief administration of

President Garfield, was placed in the museum before the building

was finished. It has been occupied by all the presidents from

Grant to McKinley, by all of our leading generals, Grant, Sher-

man, Sheridan, Hancock, Schofield, Miles and Crook, while

guests of President Hayes. A recess case contains the Hayes

family cradle, the Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine and the

old lapboard, which were much used by Lucy Webb Hayes dur-

ing the war for the Union in preparing the necessary clothes for

her four small boys during the winters which were spent with

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Dedication of the Hayes Memorial.         483   them in the camp of her husband in western Virginia. There is also a miniature three-story doll house, which was on exhibition at a fair in Baltimore, and then presented to Fanny Hayes, aged ten, and used by her at the White House. The east and west museums are duplicates in size of the east and west libraries. The east museum is reserved for General Hayes' war relics and war photographs and numerous curios collected on his trips while President. His complete horse equip- ment, saddle, bridle, pistol holster, mess chest, with dishes of iron and heavy stoneware, and bedding roll, with numerous other per- sonal effects used in the war are placed in one of the two large Japanese show cases used for the Japanese exhibit at the Cen- tennial exposition in 1876. Two other show cases contain a fairly large collection of guns, pikes, swords, flags, and other articles captured in the early months of the War for the Union. Other cases contain samples of equipment carried by members of his favorite regiments, and others a collection of war time photo- graphs, etc., including a collection of political badges dating back to the Harrison campaign of 1840, with many valuable souvenirs of Lincoln's campaign.

The west museum contains a large collection of hunting and Indian and war relics made by Colonel Webb C. Hayes who, for thirteen years prior to the death in 1890 of his godfather, Major-General George Crook, the most famous hunter and Indian fighter of the United States Army, went on long hunting trips with him in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains. There is also a very large collection of war curios made while serving as Major 1st Ohio Cavalry, through

the campaign of Santiago de Cuba, and for the invasion of Porto Rico, in the War with Spain; and while serving as Lieutenant Colonel of the 31st U. S. Infantry during the insurrection in the Philippines, extending from General Young's

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484      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

campaign in northern Luzon, where Colonel Hayes won the

much coveted Congressional Medal of Honor for distin-

guished gallantry in the relief of Vigan, ₄th December, 1899,

down to the campaign against the Moros of Mindanao where his

regiment was the first American garrison of that island, with

headquarters at Zamboanga, from 1899 to 1901. There is also a

very large collection made during the Boxer insurrection in China,

where he served on Major General Chaffee's staff in the China

Relief Expedition of 1900. Subsequent campaigns which he at-

tended as an observer are represented by interesting collections

made during the Russian-Japanese war, when he served with

General Koroki's Japanese army on the march through Korea

to the Yalu river, and later with the Russian army in the vicinity

of Mukden, and during the present great European war in

France, Belgium and Germany, during the first months of hos-

tilities, where he secured at Louvain within a fortnight after the

destruction of the famous library, three porcelain cups, the only

articles saved from that famous library.

The twenty-two windows of the museum have had placed

in them illuminated portraits of the landing of Columbus on the

discovery of America in 1492; a portrait of Amerigo Vespucci,

after whom the western continent was named; and then five

portraits each of famous characters of the Indians, the Span-

iards, the French and the British who had to do with this part

of Ohio, prior to the formation of the American Commonwealth

after the Declaration of Independence. It is the intention to

place on the upper sash of each of these twenty-two windows,

portraits of the famous Americans who had to do with military

campaigns in this vicinity or were native to it, in the campaigns

of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the War with Mex-

ico, the War for the Union, the War with Spain, and the in-

surrection in the Philippines and the China Relief expedition of

1900.

The large American flag which floats over the Memorial

Building was presented by the Col. George Croghan Chapter,

D. A. R., on Flag Day, June 14, 1915.

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